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Maria Theresa TalerREVERSE - Double-headed eagle. shield at breast of Austria, Hungary,
and Bohemia. 2 crowns atop shield surmounted by Austrian crown
signifying Austrian rulership of Hungarian and Bohemian under one crown.
I was reading a great book on coins, Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Coins by Burton Hobson and Robert Obojski (Doubleday 1983), and it had some very interesting info regarding this coin: "Maria Theresa (1740-1780) ranks as one of the greatest of all Austrian rulers. Daughter of Emperor Charles VI, wife of Emperor Francis I, she was also the mother of Emperors Joseph II (1780-1790) and Leopold II (1790-1792). While she was reigning monarch for no less than 40 years, she still found time to become the mother of 16 children! One of her daughters was the ill-fated Marie Antoinette of France. At her father's death, Maria Theresa was crowned ruler of Austria-Hungary and Bohemia. Her reign, however, was marked by almost continual conflict, including her involvement in the war of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Year's War. Although dated 1780, the coin was actually struck in the 20th century. Maria Theresa's silver taler has been struck fo 200 years without a change. Maria Theresa's taler dated 1780 is the most famous of all the Austrian crowns -- in fact, it is one of the world's most noted coins. They were circulated all over the Levant, the Middle East, and north and east Africa, particularly Ethiopia. They were so popular, that up until recent times natives of these countries refused to accept any other coin. The Austrian Mint continued to strike these talers long after the abdication of the last Hapsburg Emperors; nevertheless, all the talers have been dated 1780 regardless of the year in which they were minted. While the Vienna Mint has struck the majority of the Maria Theresa talers, they have also been produced at mints in London, Brussels, and Bombay. Italy's Rome Mint also issued the famous taler for use in Ethiopia after the conquest of that country by Mussolini's forces in the mid-1930's. Maria Theresa issued numerous other types of silver and gold coins during her long reign. She is reputed to have been an avid numismatist herself and helped to build Austria's national numismatic collection at Vienna into one of the world's finest."
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