5 Thalers - August Löser, Death of August

August the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, died in 1666 at the age of 88 — extraordinary longevity for the seventeenth century — having assembled one of the largest private libraries in Europe, which would eventually form the core of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. This Löser was struck as a memorial issue, a tradition in the Brunswick mints of producing massive multiple-thaler pieces for dynastic occasions rather than commerce. At nearly 143 grams, these were presentation objects from inception, almost never reaching ordinary hands.