An ''Ausbeutemünze'' (pron. "ows-boy-ter-moonzer") lit. "salvage coin"), also often called an ''Ausbeutethaler'' because it was so common, is an historical European
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
minted from
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
extracted from the
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...
of a particular
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
. By far the most common of such coins were made of
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
.
These coins were normal
legal tender
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...
, but differed from the usual
circulation coins because they had special images stamped on them and were often circulated at certain anniversaries. They were made by mines, for example, in the
Harz Mountains
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
.
''Harzer Münzen''
at schatzsucher.de. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
Variants
Not only were '' Thalers'' made in this fashion, but also part-''Thalers'', '' Ducats'' ''Lösers'' and other coins.
References
External links
Illustration of the last Saxon yield thaler from 1871
* www.schatzsucher.de
Harz yield coins
* www.moneymuseum.ch
* www.germanycash.de
Silver coins
Coins of the Holy Roman Empire
Harz
Ore Mountains
Mining
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