Description
Holy Roman Empire, Free Imperial City of Regensburg, Francis I of the House of Lorraine, Holy Roman Emperor 1745-1765 AD, Silver Conventionsthaler (28.03g, 42mm), 1754, ‘City-view’ issue, Regensburg mint, under mint master Johann Christoph Busch. Obverse: Laureate, cuirassed and draped bust of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I facing to the right, legend surrounds, “FRANCIS D:G: ROM· IMP: SEMP: AVG·”. Reverse: City view of Regensburg from the north looking south, of note, the Stone Bridge with all three guard towers and the Regensburg Cathedral in the background, weight standard “X· ST· EINE F· C·M·”, date and mint masters’ initials “I·C·B·” (Johann Christoph Busch) in exergue, legend surrounds above, “MONETA REIP· RATISPON·”. Davenport-2618b; KM-371. Appears very lightly polished in the past although has since re-toned with a nice steel grey patina, a highly collectible city-view issue thaler struck in the year of the Konventionsfuß, details good Very Fine or a bit better.
The obverse Latin legend reads unabridged as “Franciscus, deī grātia, Rōmānōrum Imperātor, semper Augustus”, with an English translation of “Francis, by the Grace of God, Emperor of the Romans, always the Augustus”. The reverse Latin legend reads unabridged as “monēta Reīpūblicae Ratisbona”, with an English translation of “Money of the Republic of Regensburg”. The reverse exergue inscription refers to the new silver coinage standard set in 1754 by the Holy Roman Empire, reading unabridged as “zehn Speciesthaler eine feine Cologne mark”, with an English meaning of “Ten Speciesthalers for one fine Cologne Mark”. A Cologne mark was a unit of mass equivalent to 233.856 grams (about 3,609 grains) and was frequently used in relation to coinage standards of the Holy Roman Empire; the Convention Currency Standard, the Konventionsfuß, was set in 1754 and set the Conventionsthaler, the successor of the Reichsthaler, to 1/10 of a Cologne mark or 23.386 grams of actual silver weight – 28.06 grams of 0.833 purity.