Speciestaler

The ''Speciesthaler'', also ''Speciestaler'' or ''Speziestaler'', was a type of silver specie coin that was widespread from the 17th to the 19th century and was based on the ''9-Thaler'' standard of the original ''Reichsthaler''. In Scandinavian sources the term ''Speciesdaler'' is used and, in German sources, the abbreviation ''Species'' was also common.

General

The 1566 Imperial Minting Ordinance of the Holy Roman Empire stipulated that 9 ''Reichsthalers'' were to be coined a fine Cologne Mark of silver (ca. 234  g). The official ''Reichstaler'' to the ''9-Thaler'' standard thus had a calculated fine silver content of 25.984 g.

''Speciestaler'' was a common name in (Northern) Germany and Scandinavia in the 18th and 19th centuries. The suffix ''-taler'' goes back to the '' Joachimstaler'' '' Guldengroschen''. The prefix ''Species-'' goes back to the Latin word ''species'', "face" or, in Middle Latin, "bust image". ''Speciesthalers'' are mostly silver coins with an embossed head or bust image of the mint owner. There are examples here from the Dresden Mint and Leipzig Mint The ''Speciesthalers'' from Hamburg featured the city coat of arms instead of a bust.

Regional characteristics

Holy Roman Empire

Lübeck and Hamburg

In 1619, the ''Reichstaler'' to a ''9-Thaler'' standard was designated as a value-stable accounting unit of the Hamburger Bank and referred to as the ''Bankothaler'' or ''Banco-Thaler''. From 1622, the ''Reichstaler'' was the common basis of the ''Mark'' and ''Schilling'' currencies in Hamburg and Lübeck. From then, the ''Reichsthaler'' was divided into exactly three ''Marks''.

Between 1730 and 1764 around 110,000 such ''Speciesthalers'' were minted in Hamburg (fineness 888 ⁸/₉; gross weight 29.2 g). The mintings from 1730 and 1735 bear the inscription ''Moneta Nova'', a reference to the Imperial Minting Ordinance. On the ''Speciesthalers'' minted from 1761-1764 it is ao noted that there are 48 ''Schilling Species''. The naming of ''Schilling Species'' was necessary because the silver content of the Hamburg ''Schillings'' which were part of the ''Schilling Hamburger Current'' (''Hamburger Kurantgeld'') introduced in 1725 was only 5/6 of the ''Schilling Species.''Jäger (1971), pp. 80–116.

Other areas

* Hanover: ''Speciesthaler'' (1738–1802) in ⁸/₉ fineness based on the ''9-Thaler'' standard
* Austria
** ''Fine Convention Species Thaler'' (fineness 24.808 instead of 25.984 g) in ⁵/₆ fineness (10 ''Speciesthaler'' from the crude Vienna Mark or 10 from the fine Vienna Cologne Mark)
** from 1852 onwards in ⁹/₁₀ fineness

Denmark with Schleswig and Holstein

* from before 1619 ''Speciesdaler'' (4 ''Rigsmarkers'' at 20 ''Skillinger Currentmönt'') to the ''9 ¼ Thale''r standard
* from 1776 only ''Species''; in the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from 1788 = 60 ''Schillings Schleswig-Holstein Courant''
* ''Species'', ''Rigsdaler Species'' and ''Speciesdaler'' were minted from 1800 to 1808 under Christian VII, from about 1825 to 1838 under Frederick VI and 1848/49 under Frederick VII.

Poland

* from 1697 ''Convention Specie Thaler'' (divided into 8 ''Złote polski'') based on the Viennese ''10 Thaler'' standard in ⁵/₆ fineness
* 1787–1791 Fineness reduced to ¹³/₁₆

Other countries

* Norway: from 1814 ''Speciedaler'' of ⅞ fineness (5 ''Rigsort'' to 24 ''Skilling'')

References

Literature

* Jäger, Kurt (1971). ''Die Münzprägungen der deutschen Staaten vor Einführung der Reichswährung''. Nordwestdeutschland, Vol. 6, Basle: Münzen- und Medaillen AG.

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Thaler
Coins of the Holy Roman Empire