1/3 Thaler - Frederick William

Frederick William — the "Great Elector" — issued this denomination during the period immediately following his consolidation of ducal Prussia, secured through the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau and confirmed at Oliva in 1660. The 1/3 Thaler was a distinctly north German denomination, gaining traction as trade coinage during the later seventeenth century when the full Thaler was too large for ordinary commercial transactions. Brandenburg's mints at this time were operating under the Zinnaische Münzfuß, the coinage standard established at the 1667 Zinna convention.