Basel's civic thalers of this period were minted under the authority of the city council, which had jealously guarded its minting rights since the medieval period — a privilege that survived the city's entry into the Swiss Confederation and outlasted repeated attempts by regional powers to consolidate coinage. The span from 1701 to 1739 brackets the War of the Spanish Succession and its economic aftershocks, years during which Basel's position as a commercial crossing on the Rhine made hard silver currency a practical necessity rather than a prestige issue.
HMZ 2#99a distinguishes this type from related Basel thaler issues by die specifics documented in Leu and Divo's corpus. Collectors should note that date legibility varies considerably across the series — several years are known from single specimens.
Basel's civic thalers of this period were minted under the authority of the city council, which had jealously guarded its minting rights since the medieval period — a privilege that survived the city's entry into the Swiss Confederation and outlasted repeated attempts by regional powers to consolidate coinage. The span from 1701 to 1739 brackets the War of the Spanish Succession and its economic aftershocks, years during which Basel's position as a commercial crossing on the Rhine made hard silver currency a practical necessity rather than a prestige issue.
HMZ 2#99a distinguishes this type from related Basel thaler issues by die specifics documented in Leu and Divo's corpus. Collectors should note that date legibility varies considerably across the series — several years are known from single specimens.