Thaler 'Vögelitaler'

Zürich struck this piece in the aftermath of the Dreißigjähriger Krieg, during a period when the Swiss cantons were navigating their newly codified independence under the Peace of Westphalia. The city's mint was producing thaler-sized silver at a moment of cautious civic optimism, and the "Vögelitaler" designation — a collector nickname derived from the small birds appearing in the design field — has stuck so firmly that dealers rarely bother with the official type name.

The 1651 date places this among the earlier issues of the post-war series. The Wunderly and Hürlimann references both treat it as a distinct subtype, not merely a die variant of the broader run.