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Hub AI
North German thaler AI simulator
(@North German thaler_simulator)
Hub AI
North German thaler AI simulator
(@North German thaler_simulator)
North German thaler
The North German thaler was a currency used by several states of Northern Germany from 1690 to 1873, first under the Holy Roman Empire, then by the German Confederation. Originally equal to the Reichsthaler specie or silver coin from 1566 until the Kipper und Wipper crisis of 1618, a thaler currency unit worth less than the Reichsthaler specie was first defined in 1667 and became widely used after adoption of the Leipzig currency standard of 1690.
After the 1840s, the different North German states made their thalers equal in value to the Prussian thaler; these thalers were then made par to the Vereinsthaler in 1857. The various North German thalers and vereinsthalers were all replaced in 1873 by the German gold mark at the rate of 3 marks per thaler.
Several old books confusingly use the same term Reichsthaler for the specie silver coin as well as the currency unit. This is disambiguated by referring to the full-valued coin as the Reichsthaler specie and the lower-valued currency unit as the Reichsthaler currency (courant, kurant).
In 1566 the Holy Roman Empire first introduced the Reichsthaler specie as a standard silver coin of all German states, minted 9 to a Cologne Mark of fine silver, or 25.984 g. It was divided in 24 gutegroschen, with each gutegroschen divided into 12 pfennig. Its value versus the currency unit, the guilder, rose from 1.2 gulden after 1566 to 1.5 gulden in 1618 just before the Thirty Years' War and Kipper und Wipper financial crisis destroyed the value of the gulden as well as Germany's financial system.
After 1630 the different North German states reconstructed their currency systems with a Thaler worth 24 gutegroschen or 1+1⁄2 gulden, but little is on record with regard to the mint systems until after 1667. They were thus on a de facto thaler currency system with some uncertainty in the thaler's value versus the Reichsthaler specie. A currency trial done in 1665 indicated a lower prevailing (and unofficial) rate of 14+1⁄4 gulden or 9+1⁄2 thaler to a Cologne Mark.
Here is a summary of the evolution of standards of the North German thaler from 1667 to 1873 in grams of silver, together with the Reichsthaler specie (or Conventionsthaler specie after 1753), the Austro-Hungarian florin and the South German gulden.
The Zinnasche currency standard was agreed upon in 1667 by Saxony and Brandenburg at Zinna, defining for the first time de jure a North German thaler currency issued at 10+1⁄2 to a Cologne Mark of silver, lower than the standard for the Reichsthaler specie at 9 to a Mark. While this system was implemented by the more financially able North German states (most notably by Hamburg, Lubeck & Denmark), it would not be widely adopted until introduction of the Leipzig standard of 1690.
The Leipzig standard was first introduced in 1690 by Saxony, Brandenburg, Brunswick and Lüneburg; in a few years this standard prevailed all over the Holy Roman Empire in the form of the North German thaler and the South German gulden. It defined the thaler and gulden currency units in relation to the Reichsthaler specie coin, as follows:
North German thaler
The North German thaler was a currency used by several states of Northern Germany from 1690 to 1873, first under the Holy Roman Empire, then by the German Confederation. Originally equal to the Reichsthaler specie or silver coin from 1566 until the Kipper und Wipper crisis of 1618, a thaler currency unit worth less than the Reichsthaler specie was first defined in 1667 and became widely used after adoption of the Leipzig currency standard of 1690.
After the 1840s, the different North German states made their thalers equal in value to the Prussian thaler; these thalers were then made par to the Vereinsthaler in 1857. The various North German thalers and vereinsthalers were all replaced in 1873 by the German gold mark at the rate of 3 marks per thaler.
Several old books confusingly use the same term Reichsthaler for the specie silver coin as well as the currency unit. This is disambiguated by referring to the full-valued coin as the Reichsthaler specie and the lower-valued currency unit as the Reichsthaler currency (courant, kurant).
In 1566 the Holy Roman Empire first introduced the Reichsthaler specie as a standard silver coin of all German states, minted 9 to a Cologne Mark of fine silver, or 25.984 g. It was divided in 24 gutegroschen, with each gutegroschen divided into 12 pfennig. Its value versus the currency unit, the guilder, rose from 1.2 gulden after 1566 to 1.5 gulden in 1618 just before the Thirty Years' War and Kipper und Wipper financial crisis destroyed the value of the gulden as well as Germany's financial system.
After 1630 the different North German states reconstructed their currency systems with a Thaler worth 24 gutegroschen or 1+1⁄2 gulden, but little is on record with regard to the mint systems until after 1667. They were thus on a de facto thaler currency system with some uncertainty in the thaler's value versus the Reichsthaler specie. A currency trial done in 1665 indicated a lower prevailing (and unofficial) rate of 14+1⁄4 gulden or 9+1⁄2 thaler to a Cologne Mark.
Here is a summary of the evolution of standards of the North German thaler from 1667 to 1873 in grams of silver, together with the Reichsthaler specie (or Conventionsthaler specie after 1753), the Austro-Hungarian florin and the South German gulden.
The Zinnasche currency standard was agreed upon in 1667 by Saxony and Brandenburg at Zinna, defining for the first time de jure a North German thaler currency issued at 10+1⁄2 to a Cologne Mark of silver, lower than the standard for the Reichsthaler specie at 9 to a Mark. While this system was implemented by the more financially able North German states (most notably by Hamburg, Lubeck & Denmark), it would not be widely adopted until introduction of the Leipzig standard of 1690.
The Leipzig standard was first introduced in 1690 by Saxony, Brandenburg, Brunswick and Lüneburg; in a few years this standard prevailed all over the Holy Roman Empire in the form of the North German thaler and the South German gulden. It defined the thaler and gulden currency units in relation to the Reichsthaler specie coin, as follows: