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1/2 Thaler Death of Joanna Elisabeth
| Issuer | Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst (German States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1760 |
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| Currency | Thaler |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Princess Joanna Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst facing right, her hair elaborately dressed in tight parallel ridges and covered with a veil falling to the shoulder, rendered in a refined Baroque engraving style. A circular Latin legend runs along the inner edge of the toothed border, recording her title and marriage to Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. Below the bust, a three-line inscription in the exergue records the date of her marriage: NVPS CHRISTAVGVSTO / PR ANH D VIII NOV / MDCCXXVII. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | D G IOANNA ELISAB PR ANH D S A & W C A D S B I & K & C N H N D S H NVPS CHRISTAVGVSTO PR ANH D VIII NOV MDCCXXVII |
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| Additional information |
Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorf died in Paris in 1760, largely forgotten by European courts — and by her own daughter. That daughter was Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who by then had already reinvented herself as Catherine the Great and had little political use for a mother who had been expelled from Russia in 1745 for conducting unauthorized diplomacy on behalf of Frederick II of Prussia. The half thaler memorializing Joanna Elisabeth was a dynastic obligation from Anhalt-Zerbst, not a gesture of grief.
Death thalers of minor German principalities from this period were often struck in very limited numbers for distribution to court mourners rather than circulation.