1787, Austrian Netherlands, Joseph II. Silver Crown Thaler (Kronentaler) Coin.
Mint Year: 1787 (b) Reference: Davenport 1284, KM-32. Denomination: Crown Thaler (Kronentaler) Mint Place: Brussels (privy mark: angel face)Weight: 29.39gm Diameter: 40mm Material: Silver
Obverse: Wreathed bust of Joseph II with long hair reaching below busts´s base. Legend: JOSEPH . II . D.G . R . IMP . S . A . GER . HIER . HUNG . BOH . REX . Reverse: Golden Fleece hanging on a flintstone underneath a fire iron with X-shaped flames, forming Burgundian Cross (Cross of St. Andrew). Imperial crown above, two other crowns in fields. Legend: ARCH . AUST . DUX . BURG . LOTH . BRAB . COM . FLAN . 17 (angel face) 87 .
The Kronenthaler was a silver coin first issued in the Austrian Netherlands (see Austrian Netherlands Kronenthaler). It contained one ninth of a Cologne mark of silver and was thus equal to the Reichsthaler of the Leipzig convention. Most examples show the bust of the Austrian ruler on the obverse and four crowns on the reverse, hence the name which means “crown thaler”. After the Austrian Netherlands was occupied by France, several German states (Bavaria, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt and Württemberg) issued Kronenthaler, as it had become a popular trade coin.
Joseph II (Joseph Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; March 13, 1741 – February 20, 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine (von Habsburg-Lothringen in German). Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism. He is famous for his many modernising reforms, the opposition to them by some groups, and the resulting failure of his programme.
He is known by the names in the languages of his territories: German: Joseph II, Hungarian: II József, Dutch: Jozef II, Italian: Giuseppe II, Czech: Josef II, Slovak: Jozef II, Slovene: Jožef II, Romanian: Iosif al II-lea, Croatian: Josip II, Polish: Józef II.