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3 Thalers - Ernest August Harz - Ausbeute
| Issuer | Brunswick-Lüneburg-Calenberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1681 |
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| Currency | Thaler |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A spirited horse leaps to the left in high relief against a dramatic landscape, with stylized clouds rendered in the upper right field. Below, an extensive panoramic Harz mining scene is depicted in fine detail, showing mine shafts, headframes, sluices, timber structures, workers, and forested hillsides receding into the middle ground. The composition celebrates the silver mining output of the Harz region, which directly funded the coinage, making this a classic Ausbeute (mining yield) thaler. The broad flan allows for remarkable depth and intricacy in the landscape rendering, characteristic of late seventeenth-century German medallic art. |
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| Additional information |
Ernest August became Bishop of Osnabrück in 1661 and would not acquire Calenberg itself until 1679, making this 1681 issue one of his earliest struck under that authority. The "Ausbeute" designation marks it as a mining production piece — coins struck directly from silver extracted from the Harz mountain mines, a practice the Brunswick dukes used deliberately to advertise the productivity of their mineral rights. Harz Ausbeute issues were presentation objects as much as currency, and triple-thaler strikes were never intended for ordinary commerce.
Ernest August's political maneuvering during this period was relentless; he spent much of the 1680s lobbying Emperor Leopold I for electoral status, finally granted in 1692.