⅔ Thaler - Christian Louis II

Christian Ludwig II ruled Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1747 until his death in 1756, a reign short enough that his coinage is numerically limited but not dramatically rare. The ⅔ Thaler denomination — equivalent to the Gulden and pegged at 16 Groschen — dominated north German silver circulation through much of the eighteenth century, favored precisely because it bridged the gap between the full Thaler and smaller divisional coinage during a period when trade flows through the Baltic demanded flexible specie. Mecklenburg's mint output in this decade was modest; the duchy's finances were perpetually strained by obligations to the Holy Roman Empire and lingering debts from the Northern War's disruptions earlier in the century.