The Vereinsthaler ( German: [fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪnsˌtaːlɐ] , union thaler ) was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years before German unification .
33-596: The Vereinsthaler was introduced in 1857 to replace the various versions of the North German thaler , many of which were already set at par with the Prussian thaler . While the earlier Prussian Thaler was slightly heavier at 1 ⁄ 14 th a Cologne mark of fine silver (16.704 grams ), the Vereinsthaler contained 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 grams of silver, which was indicated on the coins as one thirtieth of
66-643: A metric pound (Pfund, equal to 500 grams). The Vereinsthaler was used as the base for several different currencies. In Prussia and several other northern German states, the Vereinsthaler was the standard unit of account, divided into 30 Silbergroschen , each of 12 Pfennig . See Prussian Vereinsthaler . In Saxony , the Neugroschen was equal to the Prussian Silbergroschen but was divided into 10 Pfennig. See Saxon Vereinsthaler . Some other north German states, such as Hanover , used
99-508: A metric pound (Pfund, equal to 500 grams). The Vereinsthaler was used as the base for several different currencies. In Prussia and several other northern German states, the Vereinsthaler was the standard unit of account, divided into 30 Silbergroschen , each of 12 Pfennig . See Prussian Vereinsthaler . In Saxony , the Neugroschen was equal to the Prussian Silbergroschen but was divided into 10 Pfennig. See Saxon Vereinsthaler . Some other north German states, such as Hanover , used
132-561: A Cologne Mark (or 17.539 g fine silver) after 1753. The most notable of these are as follows: Currencies whose standards differed from the North German thaler after 1690 include: Vereinsthaler The Vereinsthaler ( German: [fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪnsˌtaːlɐ] , union thaler ) was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years before German unification . The Vereinsthaler
165-561: A gold ratio of 15.5. While new silver coins issued under the mark were limited legal tender for payments under 20 marks, the Vereinsthaler retained full, unlimited legal tender status until it was demonetized in 1908. Thaler currencies identical to the North German thaler include the Hesse-Kassel thaler , Saxon thaler and Stolberg thaler , though not all may be divided into 24 gutegroschen . Currencies identical to
198-621: 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
231-467: 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
264-470: Is a change in coin subdivisions, with the thaler now divided into 30 silber groschen . New silver coins were issued for 10 silbergroschen worth 1 ⁄ 3 thaler, as well as smaller coins for 5, 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 silbergroschen . In 1857 all German states and Austria agreed to mint the Vereinsthaler of 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 grams fine silver, of marginally smaller weight than
297-660: The Prussian thaler of 14 to a Cologne Mark (16.704 g fine silver). In 1837 the Southern German states fixed the South German Gulden at 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 gulden to the Prussian thaler, or 24 + 1 ⁄ 2 gulden to a Mark. After the 1840s the different Northern German states fixed their respective thalers at par with the Prussian thaler also at 14 to a Mark. Concurrent with this switchover
330-528: The Vereinsthaler , and all divided into 30 silbergroschen , include the Prussian vereinsthaler , Hanoverian vereinsthaler , Hesse-Kassel vereinsthaler and Mecklenburg vereinsthaler . A number of North German states followed both the Leipzig standard after 1690 and the unofficial gold standard after 1730, but did not follow the Austrian Convention standard of 13 1 ⁄ 3 to
363-740: The Austro-Prussian War . 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
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#1732771831662396-544: The War of Spanish Succession of 1700–1714 and the War of Austrian Succession of 1740–1748. In 1726 France devalued the livre tournois from 8.31 g to 4.505 g silver, and the gold-silver ratio went down from 15 to 14.5. For the stronger states in Northern Germany & Austria this meant the opportunity to reissue their thaler and gulden currencies from silver to cheaper gold – hence an unofficial gold standard. By
429-529: The ducat ) the preferred gold currency in Northern Germany, with each pistole trading at five thalers plus a variable agio (premium) after gold prices rebounded in the second half of the 18th century. The final task of currency unification in Germany was completed by Prussia between 1837 and 1873 after the Napoleonic Wars. The Zollverein customs union of 1834 unleashed a more vigorous adoption of
462-463: 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 gute groschen 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
495-562: The 1730s the gold florin of 2.5036 g was valued at 3 Austrian florins or 2 North German thaler; hence each thaler was worth 1.2518 g fine gold or 18.15 g fine silver at France's gold ratio of 14.5 (vs 19.488 g silver originally). In 1741 Frederick the Great of Prussia issued the 6-gram gold Friedrich d'or pistole for a value of five thalers. It made the thaler even cheaper at 1.2 g gold or 17.4 g silver, and several North German states also came up with their own five-thaler pistoles. For
528-421: 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: At the same time this standard
561-531: The Prussian thaler's 16.704 g, but still accepted at par with the Northern German thaler . Austria also lowered its gulden to 2 ⁄ 3 of the Vereinsthaler or 11 + 1 ⁄ 9 g. All North German thalers and Vereinsthalers were retired after 1873 in favor of the German gold mark , with each mark containing 100 ⁄ 279 gram of fine gold, at the rate of 1 thaler = 3 marks, or
594-529: The South German states neighboring France, though, the need to lower their currencies even more has become much more acute, resulting in a South German gulden of lower value than the Austro-Hungarian florin which was made official after 1753. The Austrian Convention currency standard ( Konventionsfuß ) was first introduced in 1750 to the territories of the Austrian Empire and in 1753 to
627-440: The goldmark with a legal tender limit of 20 marks, all silver 3-mark Vereinsthalers issued before 1871 enjoyed unlimited legal tender status even after the switchover to the gold standard . This ended with the demonetization of the Vereinsthaler in 1908 and the minting of new, smaller subsidiary 3-mark coins. The name Thaler for 3 marks persisted until the 1930s. Austria-Hungary stopped issuing Vereinsthaler coins in 1867, following
660-440: The goldmark with a legal tender limit of 20 marks, all silver 3-mark Vereinsthalers issued before 1871 enjoyed unlimited legal tender status even after the switchover to the gold standard . This ended with the demonetization of the Vereinsthaler in 1908 and the minting of new, smaller subsidiary 3-mark coins. The name Thaler for 3 marks persisted until the 1930s. Austria-Hungary stopped issuing Vereinsthaler coins in 1867, following
693-573: The name Groschen rather than Silbergroschen for a coin of 12 Pfennig (see Hanoverian Vereinsthaler ), while the Mecklenburg states and Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) used entirely distinct subdivisions; see Mecklenburg Vereinsthaler and Hesse-Kassel Vereinsthaler . In southern Germany, states including Bavaria used the South German gulden as the standard unit of account, with 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 Gulden = 1 Vereinsthaler. The Gulden
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#1732771831662726-454: The name Groschen rather than Silbergroschen for a coin of 12 Pfennig (see Hanoverian Vereinsthaler ), while the Mecklenburg states and Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) used entirely distinct subdivisions; see Mecklenburg Vereinsthaler and Hesse-Kassel Vereinsthaler . In southern Germany, states including Bavaria used the South German gulden as the standard unit of account, with 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 Gulden = 1 Vereinsthaler. The Gulden
759-417: 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
792-500: The rest of Germany without taking measures to secure the cooperation of the other circles of the Holy Roman Empire . It restored the Reichsthaler's silver footing at a rate 10% lower than the Leipzig standard, as follows: Several other states did not comply with this footing, however. The Southern German states settled on a lower-valued South German gulden worth 24 to a Cologne Mark fine silver or 9.744 g. The Prussian Thaler
825-449: 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
858-596: Was also set lower at 14 to a Cologne Mark or 16.704 g. Most of the North German thalers were divided into 24 gute groschen , with each gutegroschen equal to 12 pfennig . Silver coins minted for circulation include the Conventionsthaler worth 32 gutegroschen or 1 + 1 ⁄ 3 thalers ; guldens worth 16 gutegroschen or 2 ⁄ 3 thaler , and smaller coins worth 8, 4, 2 and 1 gutegroschen . The pistole of 6 grams fine gold, together with double- and half-pistole coins, became (along with
891-655: Was divided into 60 Kreuzer , each of 4 Pfennig or 8 Heller . These states issued Vereinsmünze (union coinage) worth 1 and 2 Vereinsthaler, or 1 3 ⁄ 4 and 3 1 ⁄ 2 gulden. See Bavarian Gulden , Baden Gulden , Württemberg Gulden . In the Austrian Empire (and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire ), a different florin (known as the Gulden in German or forint in Hungarian )
924-407: Was divided into 60 Kreuzer , each of 4 Pfennig or 8 Heller . These states issued Vereinsmünze (union coinage) worth 1 and 2 Vereinsthaler, or 1 3 ⁄ 4 and 3 1 ⁄ 2 gulden. See Bavarian Gulden , Baden Gulden , Württemberg Gulden . In the Austrian Empire (and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire ), a different florin (known as the Gulden in German or forint in Hungarian )
957-451: 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
990-400: Was introduced in 1857 to replace the various versions of the North German thaler , many of which were already set at par with the Prussian thaler . While the earlier Prussian Thaler was slightly heavier at 1 ⁄ 14 th a Cologne mark of fine silver (16.704 grams ), the Vereinsthaler contained 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 grams of silver, which was indicated on the coins as one thirtieth of
1023-416: Was introduced the gold florin or Rhenish gulden of 2.5036 g was advanced to a value of 2 + 56 ⁄ 60 gulden or 1 + 23 ⁄ 24 thaler – hence, 1.2784 g fine gold per thaler and a gold-silver ratio of 15.2. This would be Germany's new predominant currency system entering the 18th century. The Leipzig currency system entered another era of crisis and fragmentation in the 18th century due to
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1056-475: Was the unit of account, with 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 florins = 1 Vereinsthaler. The florin was divided into 100 kreutzers. Following German unification in 1871, the Goldmark was introduced in 1873 at a rate of 3 mark = 1 Vereinsthaler. Consequently, the new 10 pfennig coins were equivalent to the old Groschen of northern Germany and this became a nickname for the denomination. Unlike subsidiary silver coins of
1089-420: Was the unit of account, with 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 florins = 1 Vereinsthaler. The florin was divided into 100 kreutzers. Following German unification in 1871, the Goldmark was introduced in 1873 at a rate of 3 mark = 1 Vereinsthaler. Consequently, the new 10 pfennig coins were equivalent to the old Groschen of northern Germany and this became a nickname for the denomination. Unlike subsidiary silver coins of
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