20 Kreuzer Austrian Empire (1804-1867) Silver

1809, Austria, County of Tyrol. Silver 20 Kreuzer Coin.

Mint Year: 1809
Mint Place: Hall (Tyrol, Austria)
Reference: KM-149. (1-year type!) R!
Denomination: 20 Kreuzer - Insurrection Coinage!
Diameter: 28mm
Material: Silver
Weight: 6.52gm

Obverse: Wreathed and crowned heraldic eagle of Tyrol.
Legend: GEFURSTETE GRAFSCHAFT TIROL.

Reverse: Denomination (20. KREUZER.) above crossed sprays. Date, flanked by rosettes below.
Legend: NACH DEM CONVENTIONS FUSS * 1809 *

The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land (Kronland) of Austria-Hungary. Today its territory is divided between the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, a small part of the Italian region of Veneto (Cortina d’Ampezzo and other villages) and the Austrian state of Tyrol. Both regions are today associated again in the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino.

Following defeat by Napoleon in 1805, Austria was forced to cede Tyrol to the Kingdom of Bavaria in the Peace of Pressburg. Tyrol as a part of Bavaria became a member of the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. The Tyroleans rose up against the Bavarian authority and succeeded three times in defeating Bavarian and French troops trying to retake the country.

Austria lost the war of the Fifth Coalition against France, and got harsh terms in the Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809. Glorified as Tyrol’s national hero, Andreas Hofer, the leader of the uprising, was executed in 1810 in Mantua. His forces had lost a third and final battle against the French and Bavarian forces. Tyrol remained under Bavaria and the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy for another four years.

In 1814, by decisions of the Congress of Vienna, Tyrol was reunified and returned to Austria. It was integrated into the Austrian Empire. From 1867 onwards, it was a Kronland (Crown Land) of Cisleithania, the western half of Austria-Hungary.