⅓ Thaler - Max Gandolf von Kuenburg Stolberg-Wernigerode, Countermarked

Max Gandolf von Kuenburg, Archbishop of Salzburg from 1668 to 1687, ruled during a period of aggressive Catholic consolidation — he is best remembered for expelling roughly 800 Protestant families from the Defereggen Valley in 1684. The Stolberg-Wernigerode countermark on this piece reflects the common early modern practice of foreign lords validating — and thereby authorizing circulation of — coins from outside their own territory, a necessity when regional silver supplies were inconsistent and minting output uneven.