A ''Konventionsfuß'' ("convention standard", lit.: "convention foot") was a

coinage standard Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neol ...

established by state

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

, the convention. The first one was between

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and a number of German states of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

in the mid-18th century. This Convention determined that 20 ''gulden'' or 10 '' Speziesthaler'' (i.e. 1 Thaler = 2 Austrian ''gulden'') be minted from a single Cologne ''mark'' of fine

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

. Since the Cologne ''mark'' weighed approximately 233 g (with regional variants), one ''gulden'' had a fine weight of 11.69 g of silver. The

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

minted to this standard was called the Convention ''thaler'' (''

Konventionsthaler The or ("Convention "), was a standard silver coin in the Austrian Empire and the southern German states of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-18th to early 19th-centuries. Its most famous example is the Maria Theresa thaler which is still min ...

'') or Convention coin (''Konventionsmünze''). This designation was retained even after the states that had been party to the Convention, with the exception of Austria, had switched to a different standard.

History

had left the

Leipzig standard The Leipzig standard, sometimes called the Leipzig Mint standard, (German: ''Leipziger Fuß'') was a standard of coinage or '' Münzfuß'' originally established by the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1687 for silver Silver is a chemical elemen ...

(at 12 ''thalers'' or 18 ''gulden'' to a fine ''mark'') in 1747 and from July 1748 had initially minted ''thalers'' to a standard of 19 ''gulden'' 3⅓ ''kreuzers'' but, on 7 November 1750, went over to a 20-''gulden'' standard and called the new two-''gulden'' piece, the ''thaler'' (''Taler'').Friedrich Frh. Schrötter et al. (ed.): "Wörterbuch der Münzkunde." 2nd unchanged edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 1970, Reprint 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-001227-9 (reprint of the original 1930 edn.) To enlarge and secure its currency area, Austria concluded another treaty convention with

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

on 20 September 1753, which also introduced the ''20-gulden'' standard to Bavaria; this has since been called the Convention standard (''Konventionsfuß'').

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

and many other German imperial circles and estates also introduced the Convention standard. However, Bavaria withdrew from the treaty before the end of a year and switched to the 24-''gulden'' standard. The last south German Convention coin was minted in 1838. In Austria, the Convention standard expired in 1857 with the Vienna Minting Treaty, which saw the introduction of the ''

Vereinsthaler The Vereinsthaler (, ''union thaler'') was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years before German unification. The Vereinsthaler was introduced in 1857 to replace the various versions of the North G ...

'' of 1½ ''gulden'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konventionfuss Coinage standards Economy of the Holy Roman Empire 18th century in the Holy Roman Empire