The Friedrich d'or was a Prussian gold coin (pistole[citation needed]) 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 4.8-5 silver North German thalers.
It was used from 1741 to 1855 as a regularly-issued gold trade coin at this time, and was traded at a small premium or discount to its face value of five thalers in silver standard currency (silberkurantgeld) used in the stock exchanges and elsewhere. Around 1780, for example, the Saxon August d'or was quoted at 116 to 120 groschen sächsischen silberkurantgeldes (4.83 to 5 thalers, Saxon silver currency), with a maximum discount of 4 groschen (0.17 thaler). In the 19th century it usually had a low premium.
Prussian purchase contracts or bonds payable in 5-thaler gold pistoles (rather than silver currency) were noted as payable in "XX thalers, preußisch Courant" or "Friedrich d'or".
Modelled on the Spanish doubloon and French Louis d'or, the forerunner of the Friedrich d'or was the Wilhelm d'or. It was first minted in 1741 by Frederick II. It was continued by his successors Frederick William II, Frederick William III and Frederick William IV, until 1855. From 1747 a double Friedrich d'or was minted, and a half Friedrich d'or from 1749. Its fine weight sank in 1770 from 6.05 to 6.03 grams.
The Friedrich d'or pistole of 5 thalers was issued when the ratio of gold to silver price dropped from 15 to 14.5 in the first half of the 18th century, making it cheaper to repay thaler-denominated obligations in gold. At 6.05 g fine gold per pistole, each thaler was worth 1.21g fine gold & 1.21 x14.5 = 17.545 g fine silver, cheaper than the prevailing standard of 19.488 g fine silver. Even at the pistole's lower value of 4.8 thalers, the thaler's silver equivalent of 18.3 g is still below the standard.
What followed was the North German thaler's silver standard lowered after 1750 to 131⁄3 per Cologne Mark, or 17.539 g fine silver (in Prussia, 14 per Mark or 16.704 g). When the gold-silver ratio rose again, the pistole then traded at 5 thalers plus an agio or premium. The pistole's standard varied slightly; at best 35 to a Cologne Mark of gold 130/144 fine, or 6.032 g fine gold; at worst 351⁄6 to a Mark 129/144 fine, or 5.957 g fine gold.
Only Bremen stayed on the Thaler Gold standard of 5 thalers per pistole until German Reunification in 1871.
Appearance
On the obverse of the Friedrich d'or was the king's head, and on the reverse was an eagle standing on its shield.
A thaler or taler is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A thaler size silver coin has a diameter of about 40 mm and a weight of about 25 to 30 grams. The word is shortened from Joachimsthaler, the original thaler coin minted in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, from 1520.
The German mark was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the gold standard from 1871 to 1914, but like most nations during World War I, the German Empire removed the gold backing in August 1914, and gold coins ceased to circulate.
The doubloon was a two-escudo gold coin worth approximately $4 or 32 reales, and weighing 6.766 grams of 22-karat gold. Doubloons were minted in Spain and the viceroyalties of New Spain, Peru, and New Granada. As the Spanish escudo succeeded the heavier gold excelente as the standard Spanish gold coin, the doubloon therefore succeeded the doble excelente or double-ducat denomination.
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 of the Spanish coin. One pistole was worth approximately ten livres or three écus, but higher figures are also seen. The derivation is uncertain; the term may come from the Czech píšťala, or from the Italian town of Pistoia; either way, it was originally spelled pistolet and originated in military slang, and probably has the same root as pistol.
The Vereinsthaler was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years before German unification.
The Conventionstaler or Konventionstaler, 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 example is the Maria Theresa thaler which is still minted today. The Conventionsgulden was equivalent to a 1⁄2Conventionsthaler.
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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 the Kipper und Wipper crisis of 1618, a thaler currency unit worth less than the Reichsthaler specie was first defined in 1667 and became widely used after adoption of the Leipzig currency standard of 1690.
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The Bartgroschen was a Saxon coin minted in 1492 and 1493 and embossed with an image of the bearded Duke Frederick III, the Wise (1486–1525). A total of 205,000 pieces were struck at the mints of Zwickau and Schneeberg. The groschen were the first Saxon coins with a portrait of the regent.
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The Reichsmünzfuß was a coinage standard or Münzfuß officially adopted for general use in the Holy Roman Empire. Different imperial coin standards were defined for different types of coins.
A coin base weight (Münzgrundgewicht) is a mathematical reference for the minting of coins that was used in the monetary systems of the Holy Roman Empire. In conjunction with the coin standard (Münzfuß), the coin base weight indicates how many coins are to be minted from a specified standard weight.
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