Editing Thaler (section)

==Chronology of thaler development==
{{Further|Reichsthaler|North German thaler|Conventionsthaler}}
[[File:Franz Joseph Vereinsthaler 1855 - 621257.jpg|thumb|Austrian [[Vereinsthaler]] (1855)]]
* 1486: [[Sigismund of Austria|Sigismund]] of Tirol issues his 31.93 g [[Guldengroschen]] of 60 [[Kreuzer]]s and .9375 fineness.
* 1493: Switzerland issues its first Guldengroschen at [[Bern]]
* 1499: Hungary issues the first Guldiner/Guldengroschen. It is the earliest year of issue with Arabic numerals on the coins in Hungary.
* 1500: The first German [[Guldengroschen]] is issued from [[Coinage of Saxony|Saxony]] weighing 29.232 grams, or eight to a [[Cologne Mark]].
* 1518: The first coin actually called a "Thaler" is minted in [[Jáchymov|Joachimsthal]], Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire, also weighing 29.232 g.
* 1524: The money ordinance [[Reichsmünzordnung]] issued at [[Esslingen am Neckar|Esslingen]] is the first attempt at a standard currency system for the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. It fixed the weight of the guldengroschen weight at 29.232 g (or 1/8th a [[Cologne Mark]], or 233.856 g), its fineness at 0.9375, and proposed it be divided into 21 [[groschen]] or 60 [[kreuzer]].<ref name="systems">MAIN reference: [https://books.google.com/books?id=GrJCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA360 German monetary system]''. p. 360–393.</ref>
* 1534: [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]] and Bohemia alter the fineness of their guldiners (or 1-guilder coin) down from .9375 purity to .903 while maintaining the same coin weight, thus lowering the actual amount of pure silver in the coin. This made the imperial Guldengroschen worth more than the locally issued guldiner.
* 1551: A new money ordinance is decreed in [[Augsburg]] that lowered the guldengroschen's fineness to 0.882 but raised its weight to 31.18 g. Many German states begin to accept this standard guldengroschen, but valued higher at 24 groschen or 72 kreuzer, further reinforcing its separation from the accounting gulden defined as only 60 kreuzer. A huge variety of other accounting subdivisions of the coin prevailed throughout the Empire.
* 1559: After the death of the Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], yet another money ordinance is decreed at Augsburg, which discontinued the 72-kreuzer guldengroschen (minted at 8.533 to a Cologne Mark of fine silver) in favor of a 60-kreuzer "guldiner" or 1-gulden coin minted at 10.24 to a Mark.
* 1566: Protestations over the disappearance of the ''guldengroschen'' resulted in the issuance of the ''[[Reichsthaler]]'' (known later as the ''[[Speciesthaler]]''), of weight 29.232 g and fineness 0.889 (hence, 9 Specie Reichsthalers issued to a [[Cologne Mark]] of fine silver). While modestly lighter than the guldengroschen, its public acceptance at the same price of 24 groschen or 72 kreuzer (or 10.8 guilders to a Mark) doomed the now-underpriced guldiner.
* 1618: The Reichsthaler was valued at 24 groschen, or 90 kreuzer, or 1{{frac|2}} gulden on the eve of the [[Thirty Years' War]] of 1618–1648 and the [[Kipper und Wipper]] financial crisis which destroyed Germany's various monetary systems.
* 1667: An [[Treaty of Zinna|agreement]] made at the [[Zinna Abbey|Abbey of Zinna]] between Saxony, [[Brandenburg]], and [[Brunswick-Lüneburg]] to help make the minting of small coins more economical than could be done under the old Augsburg ordinances led to the creation of a lower-valued Thaler, still worth 1{{frac|2}} gulden or 90 kreuzer, but equal to {{frac|6|7}} of the original Speciethaler (or 10{{frac|2}} Zinnaische thalers to a Cologne Mark of fine silver). Northern European states like Denmark, Hamburg and Lübeck acceded to this convention.
* 1690: The Leipzig Money Convention met to deal with the poor quality of coinage in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Brunswick, as well as the limited acceptance of the 1667 Zinnaische standard. The agreement reached was to reduce the [[North German thaler]] further to {{frac|3|4}} the Speciethaler, or 12 Leipzig thalers minted from a Cologne Mark of fine silver. The Leipzig standard eventually prevailed all over the Empire, with a variety of subdivisions still used by the different states for this thaler: 1{{frac|2}} gulden, 90 kreuzer, 24 [[gutegroschen]], 36 mariengroschen, etc. 
* 1750: This year saw yet another reduction in weight in the areas controlled by [[Prussia]], [[Hesse]], and [[Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]] down to just 22.272 g and a .750 fineness. 14 [[Prussian thaler]]s were minted from a Cologne mark of fine silver.
* 1754: The monetary agreement between Austria and Bavaria in 1753 replaced the original Speciethaler by a new [[Conventionsthaler]], with ten to a Cologne Mark of fine silver (or 23.3856 g). Its weight was 28.06 g with a fineness of .833. This Conventionsthaler was worth 1{{frac|3}} [[North German thaler]]s, or 1.4 [[Prussian thaler]]s, or 2 [[Austro-Hungarian florin]]s, or 2.4 [[South German gulden]]. Over time this coin would spread into a large portion of central and southern Germany but not in Scandinavia.
* From 1820: The Kronenthaler (a thaler with 3 or 4 crowns between the Burgundy cross), a coin first issued in 1754 by the [[Austrian Empire]] for use in the [[Austrian Netherlands]] (present-day Belgium), became widely adopted by various Southern German that the rate of to 2.7 [[South German gulden]]. The kronenthaler had a weight of 29.45 g and a fineness of .873.
* From 1837: the Prussia-led [[Zollverein]] customs union led to a more vigorous transition into the Prussian currency standard, with North German thalers being replaced by lower-valued Prussian thalers worth 14 to a Cologne Mark of fine silver (or 16.704 g), and with each thaler now divided into 30 silbergroschen. The Prussian thaler was also fixed at 1{{frac|3|4}} [[South German gulden]].
* 1857: The Vienna monetary contract finally eliminates the Cologne Mark as a standard against which the silver coinage of Austria and Germany are reckoned, replacing it with a simple tariff of 500 g fine silver. 30 [[Vereinsthaler]]s are set to be minted from this 500 g standard (hence 16.67 g fine silver, or weight 18.52 g .900 fine). The Vereinsthaler was made equal to 1{{frac|2}} [[Austro-Hungarian florin]]s, 1{{frac|3|4}} [[South German gulden]], 30 silbergroschen, and other subdivisions.
* 1873: The [[gold standard]] was adopted by the newly unified [[German Empire]], with the silver Vereinsthaler remaining unlimited legal tender at three [[gold mark]]s despite its bullion value dropping below 3 gold marks over the next several years.
* 1908: The Vereinsthaler was officially demonetised in Germany and made worth only bullion value.