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The Thaler was the currency of the
36 Grote 1840-18592.5 Schwaren 1841-18661 Thaler 1865
Currencies of Germany 1873 disestablishments in Germany History of Bremen (state) Coins of the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-hist-stub
The Thaler was the currency of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
Bremen (), officially the Free Hanseatic League#Lists of former Hansa cities, Hanseatic City of Bremen (german: Freie Hansestadt Bremen; nds, Free Hansestadt Bremen), is the smallest and least populous of States of Germany, Germany's 16 states. ...
until 1873. It was divided into 72 ''Grote'', each of 5 ''Schwaren''. While initially identical to the North German thaler
The North German thaler was a currency used by several states of Northern Germany from 1690 to 1873, first under the Holy Roman Empire, then by the German Confederation. Originally equal to the Reichsthaler specie or silver coin from 1566 until t ...
before the 1750s, it was the only currency to maintain the gold standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...
of 5 thalers to a Friedrich d'or
The Friedrich d'or was a Prussian gold coin (pistole) nominally worth 5 silver Prussian thalers. It was subsequently copied by other North German states under their own rulers' names (''August-, Friedrich-August-, Christian d'or'') and valued at 4 ...
pistole
Pistole is the French name given to a Spanish gold coin in use from 1537; it was a doubloon or double escudo, the gold unit. The name was also given to the Louis d'Or of Louis XIII of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value ...
from the 1750s until 1873, long after all other states adopted the ''Conventionsthaler
The ''Conventionstaler'' or ''Konventionstaler'' ("Convention ''thaler''"), was a standard silver coin in the Austrian Empire and the southern German states of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-18th to early 19th-centuries. Its most famous exam ...
''.
North German Thaler Gold
After implementation of the 1690 Leipzig currency standard the majority of the North German states defined the Reichsthaler currency as th a Cologne Mark of fine silver or 19.488 g. The gold-silver price ratio dropped, however, in the mid-18th century (down to 14.5 in France after 1726), leading many states to reissue their Reichsthaler currencies in cheaper Thaler Gold. By the 1730s the gold florin of 2.5036 g was valued at 2 thaler; hence each Thaler Gold was worth 1.2518 g gold or 18.15 g silver at France's gold ratio of 14.5 (vs 19.488 g per silver thaler). In 1741Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
introduced the 6-gram fine gold Friedrich d'or
The Friedrich d'or was a Prussian gold coin (pistole) nominally worth 5 silver Prussian thalers. It was subsequently copied by other North German states under their own rulers' names (''August-, Friedrich-August-, Christian d'or'') and valued at 4 ...
pistole
Pistole is the French name given to a Spanish gold coin in use from 1537; it was a doubloon or double escudo, the gold unit. The name was also given to the Louis d'Or of Louis XIII of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value ...
worth 5 thalers; the Thaler Gold became even cheaper at 1.2 g gold or 17.4 g silver.
This unofficial Thaler Gold standard was replaced by the Conventionsthaler
The ''Conventionstaler'' or ''Konventionstaler'' ("Convention ''thaler''"), was a standard silver coin in the Austrian Empire and the southern German states of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-18th to early 19th-centuries. Its most famous exam ...
standard in most of Northern Germany after 1754, restoring its silver footing at 13 thalers to the Cologne Mark, or 17.5392 g. Only Bremen stayed on the Thaler Gold standard until German Reunification in 1871.
Bremen Thaler Gold
Bremen initially responded to the emergence of the Thaler Gold in 1740 by lowering their thaler's standard to rd theReichsthaler
The ''Reichsthaler'' (; modern spelling Reichstaler), or more specifically the ''Reichsthaler specie'', was a standard thaler silver coin introduced by the Holy Roman Empire in 1566 for use in all German states, minted in various versions for th ...
specie coin or a Cologne mark of silver, but was not able to issue currency to this standard. On the other hand, French and North German gold pistole
Pistole is the French name given to a Spanish gold coin in use from 1537; it was a doubloon or double escudo, the gold unit. The name was also given to the Louis d'Or of Louis XIII of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value ...
s were easily available and of stable quality & value. Hence Bremen accepted the gold standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...
at 5 Thaler Gold to the 6.0-gram pistole
Pistole is the French name given to a Spanish gold coin in use from 1537; it was a doubloon or double escudo, the gold unit. The name was also given to the Louis d'Or of Louis XIII of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value ...
, and retained it until 1873 even after the other North German states switched to the Conventionsthaler.
In 1863 Bremen valued the German gold krone, containing 10 grams of fine gold, at 8.4 Thalers, hence an equivalence of 1 grams of fine gold to the Thaler. In 1873, the Thaler was replaced by the mark (ℳ). As the mark is also fixed to gold with 1 gram equal to 2.79ℳ, an exact conversion was carried out with 1 Thaler = mark (ℳ).
References
* :de:Taler Gold * :de:Bremische MünzenExternal links
36 Grote 1840-1859
Currencies of Germany 1873 disestablishments in Germany History of Bremen (state) Coins of the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-hist-stub