Saxe-Gotha, Thaler 1673

Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Thaler 1673 MR
Ernst I (1640-1675)
Obv.: Crowned coat of arms surrounded by tendrils
Rev.: Symbolic representation: Wanderer is lead by an arm from the clouds.

Expand your collection with a thaler of the founder of the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg line!

When the underaged Duke Frederick William III of Saxony-Altenburg died in 1672, his line died with him. Thus, the Altenburg inheritance dispute was triggered: The houses of Weimar and Gotha argued for the rule of the Principality.

After only a brief negotiations Ernest I of Gotha decided the matter for himself: he and his house got three quarters of the disputed territory and he called his line thereafter Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg. His eldest son Frederick I took over the government. With the incorporation of Altenburg he created the most important territorial state in Thuringia.

The allegorical image on the reverse of the coin offered refers to the events of 1672: The hand of God leads a wanderer - probably a personification of the house Gotha - through difficulties and obstacles - the inheritance dispute - to an idyllic garden - the principality of Altenburg.