1 Thaler    (sold for $171.0)

1673, Salzburg, Archbishop Max Gandolph. Large Silver Thaler Coin. VF+
Wonderful large silver coin, depicting Madonna & Child.

Mint Year: 1671
Mint Place: Salzburg
Denomination: Thaler
Reference: Davenport 3508, KM-190. R!
Condition: A few dark oxidation spots, minor weakness of strike, otherwise a nice VF+
Weight: 28.92gm
Diameter: 42mm
Material: Silver

Obverse: Madonna w. Child & staff. Arms of Max Gandolph, topped by cross below covered by legate´s hat.
Outer Legend: MAX:GAND:D:G: AR:EP:SAL:SE:AP:L.
Inner Legend: SIDIVM. CONF VG. SVB. TVVM. PRAE

Reverse: Saint Rupert standing, holding crozier and salt barrel, arms of salzburg below, wreath around.
Latin Legend: SANCT : RUDBERT VS . EPS : SALISB : 1671

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire, roughly consisting of the present-day state of Salzburg (the ancient Roman city of Iuvavum) in Austria.

Max Gandolph, was born in 1622 of an old noble family in Ganz, Styria and was elected as Archbishop of Salzburg in 1668. Even in the beginning of Archbishop Max Gandolph's rule, other problems took precedence. In 1669, 62 Dürrnberger mine workers drowned in salt.

On July 16, 1669, a landslide killed 200 people. Gandolph's reign was not free from war worries either: France occupied Lorraine in 1670, and raised territorial claims to which Gandolph responded with a contingent under Major von Freysing. A Turkish danger threatened Vienna in the year 1683. Lastly, the infamous Black Jacket witch trials, where 200 people had been tortured and killed at the behest of Gandolph, had just ended.

Therefore, after around 1683, Gandolph had more time to devote to the issue of religious dissent, and he did not like dissent. He was, above all else, an administrator with a zest for regulation and rules. Under his reign, new regulations were issued in abundance and included, among other things, new police regulations, fire prevention orders, safety ordinances, firearms laws, loitering regulations, an alms order of 1678 which included a 'beggar land registry', a cleanliness order for the roads and disease protection regulations in 1679. A cleanliness order for religion was next.