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Thaler Leodegar facing right, 16 coats of arms
| Issuer | City of Lucerne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1518 |
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| Currency | Thaler (1422-1550) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Central field displays the crowned imperial coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire, featuring a displayed double-headed eagle. Immediately below is the quartered coat of arms of Lucerne — left field hatched (representing azure in heraldic convention), right field plain (argent) — supported on either side by rearing lions. Surrounding the central group, arranged clockwise in a circular pattern, are sixteen small square shields bearing the arms of the sixteen Lucerne bailiwicks: Rothenburg, Entlebuch, Sempach, Triengen, Malters, Kriens, Merenschwand, Ebikon, Rüßegg, Weggis, Horw, Habsburg, Münster, Sursee, Ruswil, and Willisau. The overall composition reflects the sophisticated heraldic engraving tradition of early sixteenth-century Swiss coinage, with no reverse legend. |
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| Additional information |
Lucerne struck its first thalers in the years immediately following the spread of the large-silver-coin format northward from the Tyrol, where Archduke Sigismund's guldengroschen of 1486 had established the benchmark weight and concept. By 1518, the city was asserting its status as a leading member of the Swiss Confederacy through coinage of this scale. The sixteen coats of arms surrounding the central type identify the allied territories and subject lands — a pointed political statement at a moment when the Confederation's internal alignments were under pressure from both the Italian wars and the early stirrings of the Reformation.
The Haas unlisted status is worth noting. Haas's study of Lucerne coinage is selective in its early thaler coverage, and gaps there do not imply rarity so much as incomplete cataloging of a transition-period issue. Wielandt 2a and HMZ 617b diverge slightly in their weight tolerances for this type.