The 1780 Maria Theresa’s Thaler Silver Trade Dollar

May 13, 2017 marked the 300th Anniversary of the birth of Maria Theresa.

Maria Theresa was the Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Empress of the Habsburg Dynasty from 1740 to 1780. Born May 13, 1717, in Vienna, Austria; Maria Theresa was the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, the last remaining male heir to the Habsburg throne. When her father died in 1740 she ascended to the throne. She married Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine, France and they had 16 children. The most well-known of her children being Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. Maria Theresa died on November 29, 1780. Upon her death, her son Joseph II became the Holy Roman Emperor. [11, 13]

The 1780 Maria Theresa’s Thaler has a diameter of 39.5 mm, weighs 28.0668 grams and contains 83.3% Silver (0.7517 oz ASW). Proof versions are also available. There are also recorded instances that the MTT being struck as gold coins. [3, 10]

The Maria Theresa’s Thaler (also known as MTT) was first struck 1741, with the final dated coins bearing the year 1780. To commemorate the last year of her reign, the 1780 date has not been changed. Since 1781 the 1780 MTT was legally re-struck by 16 different mints. Even though the MTT lost its legal tender status in Austria in 1858, Austria continued to produce the coins for trade, and is still intermittently producing them to this day. In the silver bull market that ended in 1980, the Austrian Mint struck over 22 Million MTT between the years 1975-1977. According to the Master of the Austrian Mint - all the coins where shipped directly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This silver demand came from various Saudi parties in alliance with the Hunt Brothers. In more recent years the production of MTT are much smaller. In the year 2000, the Austrian Mint sold 9,721 MTT coins. In 2002 they sold 12,974 MTT coins. Conservative estimates puts the total mintage at around 400 Million (based on incomplete records from the mints that legally produced them). But other sources estimate the total mintage to be closer to 800 Million coins struck in its 275 years of history. [8, 6, 3, 9, 2]

Trade Coins where primarily minted approximately between the years of 1750 – 1940, mostly by European colonial countries and commercial traders. They where minted to facilitate trade with local economies though out the world. Trade coins circulated based on the weight and fineness of their silver or gold content, not the face value of the coin. For nearly two hundred years, the MTT was traded throughout the Middle East, Africa, and other parts of the world that did not have it’s own currency. The MTT had become such a necessary part of the economy that in many countries it maintained legal tender status well into the 20th Century: Saudi Arabia (until 1928), Ethiopia (until 1945), Yemen (until 1962), and Oman (until 1970). [8, 3, 1]

During World War II, the US American Office of Strategic Services created counterfeit (or illegally struck) silver MTTs for use by resistance forces. In the Japanese occupied territory’s people preferred the MTTs more than the paper script issued by Japan. The resistance forces used the MTTs to acquire goods and issue bribes. Great Britain and India, are also guilty of producing counterfeit silver MTTs. Counterfeit Base Metal MTTs are also known to exist. [11, 4, 8, 10, 14]

The 1780 Maria Theresa’s Thaler is often collected by die variety. Similar to VAM die varieties of Morgan and Peace Dollars, the "Lexicon of the Maria Theresien Taler 1780" by Walter Hafner, lists the major MTT die varieties known to exist. There are somewhere between 100 and 150 major die varieties, the list is not complete and is being extended on an ongoing basis. Based on the die variants, one can sometimes determine the mint and the approximate year in which the coin was minted. [10]

With a mintage of 400-800 Million, many would consider the 1780 MTT just a common date coin. But if one considers that… It was hoarded by the Hunt Brothers. Accepted by honest hard working individuals and slave traders alike. Used in military conquests. Made into jewelry to ward off the “evil eye”. And believed to have healing powers. All things Considered the 1780 Maria Theresa’s Thaler is BEYOND COMMON. [8, 3, 5, 4, 7, 1]

REFERENCES

1. Goswamy, B. N. 2007; “World’s Most Famous Silver Coin”; The Tribune Spectrum - (Sept 2, 2007) Chandigarh, India
2. Harrigan, Peter. 2003. “Tales of a Thaler.” Saudi Aramco World. (Jan/Feb 2003): pp 14-23.
3. Krause, Chester L. and Clifford Mishler 1993; Standard Catalog of World Coins 1701-1800; Krause Publications; (1993 Version): p 8 and p 77
4. Lovell, Stanley P. 1963; "Deadly Gadgets of the OSS". Popular Science :(July 1963) pp 56–58.
5. Mohammed, Seid A. 2015; “A Social Institution of Slavery and Slave Trade in Ethopia: Revisited”- African Journal of History and Culture; (March 2015) pp 85-90
6. Sarnoff, Paul 1980; “Silver Bull” Arlington House Publishers
7. Semple, Clare. 2007. “A Silver Legend: The Story of the Maria Theresa Thaler”. Barzan Publishing.
8. Tschoegl, Adrian. 2001. “Maria Theresa’s Thaler: A Case of International Money.” Eastern Economic Journal 27.4 (2001): pp 443-462.
9. https://www.muenzeoesterreich.at/eng/Produkte/Maria-Theresa-Taler (Austrian Mint)
10. http://www.theresia.name/en/index.html (Info on Die Variants)
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler
12. http://www.mariatheresa.com/mtt.html
13. http://www.biography.com/people/maria-theresa-9398965
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_money

Austria produced Commemorative Postal Stamps in 1980