Thaler

Zürich's thalers of this period were struck under the authority of the city council, which jealously guarded its minting rights as a marker of cantonal independence within the loose framework of the Swiss Confederation. By the 1690s, the city was producing coinage partly to manage the financial strain left by the Toggenburg succession disputes and ongoing tensions with the Catholic cantons — conflicts that would eventually erupt into the Second Villmergen War of 1712. The Hürlimann reference places this piece among a narrowly defined emission, with Wunderly and HMZ cross-references suggesting limited die usage across the type.