George Louis ruled Calenberg-Hannover as Elector from 1698, but 1702 places this coin squarely in the middle of the War of the Spanish Succession, during which Hanover supplied troops to the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV. The electorate's mints were active throughout this period partly to pay those military obligations — fractional thalers like this one served the practical wage and supply demands that full thalers could not efficiently meet.
George Louis, of course, became George I of Great Britain in 1714, making his pre-accession Hanoverian coinage a footnote to a dynastic shift that reshaped northern European politics entirely. KM#38 is not a rare type, but survivors in crisp condition are less common than mintage pressures of the period might suggest.
George Louis ruled Calenberg-Hannover as Elector from 1698, but 1702 places this coin squarely in the middle of the War of the Spanish Succession, during which Hanover supplied troops to the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV. The electorate's mints were active throughout this period partly to pay those military obligations — fractional thalers like this one served the practical wage and supply demands that full thalers could not efficiently meet.
George Louis, of course, became George I of Great Britain in 1714, making his pre-accession Hanoverian coinage a footnote to a dynastic shift that reshaped northern European politics entirely. KM#38 is not a rare type, but survivors in crisp condition are less common than mintage pressures of the period might suggest.