Reichsthaler

[1] Since the Holy Roman Empire was a loose federation of hundreds of feudal and princely rulers, Germany had a collection of currency systems loosely related to the Frankish Carolingian monetary system with one pound (later Gulden) equal to 20 shillings (later Groschen), and a shilling equal to 12 pennies (Pfennig).

The Guldengroschen was a large silver coin of approximately 30 grams minted from the mine output of nations located southeast of modern-day Germany.

The coin's name denotes its approximate equivalence to the Dutch guilder and French livre parisis of the 15th century, then worth around 1 ounce of silver or 2.6 grams gold.

Though initially of varying weights and even facing competition from the Joachimsthaler, it was a coin that succeeded in the era of abundant precious metals in the 16th century, and was a natural choice of unit for a unified German currency.

[1][2] The Reichsmünzordnung were a series of minting ordinances of the Holy Roman Empire defining the monetary system that would unify the numerous disparate currencies of its member states.

[1][3] This remained an ideal or unimplemented system until the following changes were made in 1555:[1][4] The Reichsthaler turned out to be the most successful coin resulting from the 16th century Reichsmünzordnungs.

The Thirty Years' War 1618-48 and the Kipper und Wipper financial crisis of 1618-23 led to widespread currency debasements of up to 10 gulden to a Reichsthaler specie.

The Reichsthaler specie was widely issued in Germany for 200 years but was discontinued in many states after 1754 in favor of the lighter Conventionsthaler of 1⁄10th a Cologne Mark or 23.3856 g fine silver.