15 Kreuzer Austria Silver

Mint Year: 1694 Reference: KM-278. Mint Place: Salzburg Denomination: 15 Kreuzer Condition: Minor deposits, otherwise XF!  Diameter: 28mm Weight: 6.09gm Material: Silver

Obverse: St. Rupert (holding salt cellar anc crozier) and St. Virgil (holding model of Abbey and crozier). All within diamond-shaped frame. Comment: Value (15) inside oval frame below, baroque decorative elements in outer fields.   Reverse: Arms of Salzburg and of the Prince-Archibishop Johann Ernst von Thun within diamond-shaped frame. Comment: Date (1-6-9-4) in outer fields.

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.

Johann Ernst von Thun (July 3, 1643, Graz, Austria – April 20, 1709, Salzburg, Austria) was prince-archbishop of Salzburg, Austria, from 1687 to 1709. He was originally from the south Tyrol and he displayed a marked antipathy to the Italian designers and tastemakers that were emulated by many Austrians at the time. Upon his accession, he halted work on a church being built for an Italian order of monks and denied payment to Italian craftsmen. The archbishop is best remembered as patron of the architect Fischer von Erlach, a leader of Austrian Baroque church architecture. In 1697, the archbishop obliged all graduates of Salzburg’s university to swear belief in the Immaculate Conception. Upon his death, Archbishop von Thun had his brain deposited in the university chapel, his entrails (symbolizing compassion) deposited in his Hospital Church, and his heart interred at his favorite Church of the Trinity.