Owner Comments:
The morning came, and with it a message to the King that the Director of the Muenzkabinet urgently needed to see him. Upon entering the hall, King Ludwig I of Bavaria instantly recognized the great worry chiseled into Franz Streber’s aged face. With an unassuming curiosity, the King asked, “My dear Franz, what troubles you? Could it be that you desperately desire to tell me that you have created another magnificent Taler glorifying the might of our Bavaria?” The director was not amused - “No, Your Highness; this time, there is a much more serious matter.” Extending his hand, Streber revealed a velvet pouch he had been holding and now emptied all of its contents onto the table between them. A cascade of silver coins rang upon the hard surface and filled the air with the delightful noise of money in motion. “And what’s the meaning of this,” asked Ludwig as he picked up a few of the coins and began to eye them closely, “They seem to be Guilders from the neighboring kingdoms… I recognize Baden, Wurttemberg, even Frankfurt - what seems to be out of the ordinary here?” Suddenly Director Streber cried, “It’s all a mess! We have performed an analysis of the silver content and have come to understand that the amount of silver in these coins is CONSIDERABLY lower than in our Bavarian Guilders! This is unacceptable! Our poor silver miners work tirelessly in the dark through day and night so we can mint our Guilders while our 'benevolent neighbors’ cut corners and churn out rubbish coins without shame, and then they pay their debts to us with their disgraceful pieces! The threat here is dual - we are losing our own silver, and at the same time are selling our wares for a miserably tiny amount.” With this, the Director buried his face in his hands and filled the room with a tense silence.
The King slowly paced the room for a short while, then solemnly began to address the Director, “Yes, the situation seems grave indeed. We cannot ruin relations with our neighbors but we equally cannot let ourselves be ruined. We all know that the Guilder is the primary coin in our Southern States and its silver content should stay approximately… what is the proper percentage again?” Streber chimed in, “Silver content should be 90% of face value.” He did not know where Ludwig was going with his train of thought, and he exclaimed, “But Your Majesty, other provincial governments have different laws on this matter and they can mint any percentage of silver into their coins… we cannot force them anyhow!” Confidently looking at his friend, Ludwig replied,”Do you remember that my father began the process of unifying our lands into taxable economic precincts? In 1818, the Zollverein helped eliminate Customs Barriers. Also there was the Stuttgart Agreement in 1825 with Wurttemberg, when we created the Southern Customs Union. Then there was also the German Customs Union of 1833 that unified us with Prussia. All of these are stages on our great journey of creating a singular economic zone with one currency!” Not yet satisfied, the Director replied, “You are correct, Your Highness, but this Union serves to aid in administration of customs tariffs yet has nothing to do with the silver content of the coins themselves.” Then, with a sigh of resoluteness, the King decreed, “Then it is the time to introduce a new chapter to this story. We are to organize a convention here in Munich with representatives from all of the Southern States, with Baden, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, even Frankfurt. All efforts to counterfeit the Guilder will be hereby shut down, and our currency will once again be the world’s example of purity and consistency. From here on out, the Guilder will have a 90% silver composition - no more and no less! This will be the standard across the entire nation! This convention surely is just cause for the minting of a new medallion, a grandiose Taler to celebrate this necessary change!” Triumphantly, the King removed himself from the hall, knowing the way to a brighter future for his country.
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And so be it! The Convention was assembled and known as a “Munich Coin Treaty”. All Landowners of the Southern German States such as Bavaria, Baden, Wurttemberg, Nassau, Hesse- Darmstadt and Frankfurt were in agreement of unification of the currency and the silver content of the coins. Nobody will be able to profit from melting down other states silver coins to make their own. The solid Unit of the Southern German Coinage was the Gulden of 60 Kreutzer or 1/24.5 part of the Cologne Mark. It could be exchanged with Prussia Thaler at the rate of 1 3/4 Gulden to the Thaler. Coins were minted in denominations of Half Gulden, One Gulden, One Thaler and Two Thalers (3 1/2 Gulden) . This denominations were handy up until 1857 when All Mighty Vereinsthaler was introduced and swept off Southern Thaler dominance. But this is another story to come..
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German Talers since 1800 by John S. Davenport
Bavaria, King Ludwig Series (1825 - 1848).
2 Taler 1837, MONETARY UNION.
Davenport 581, KM 792, Thun 75, AKS 98, J.66, Schw. 22.
To Commemorate Monetary Union of the Southern States.
Obverse: Head of the Ludwig to the right, LUDWIG I KOENIG VON BAYERN.
Reverse: MUNZVEREINIGUNG SUDTEUTSCHHER STAATEN, standing female with surrounding six shields, 1837 below.
37.1200 g., 0.9000 Silver, 1.0740 oz. ASW.
Another large uncirculated coin, 2 Thalers of Ludwig I of Bavaria, so-called "Historic Thaler" - desirable piece for any German Coin collectors! This one is 1837 to Commemorate the Monetary Union of the Southern German States. Uncirculated fields with attractive golden toning, more prominent towards the edges! Sharp strike with Cameo-like details of the design. Single hairlines in the fields. Some tiny scratches on the holder. Great and popular collectible find!!