Maria Theresa thaler
Dated 1780 ・ silver ・ 18th century ・ Vienna Mint (later striking, dated 1780)
The veiled bust of the empress, and the double-headed eagle. The Maria Theresa thaler is a silver coin that went on being struck long afterward, still carrying the date 1780, the year the empress left the world. In the world of the Levant trade it was trusted for not changing, and in the Middle East and Africa it passed as money into the 20th century — the queen of trade silver. Even when the issuer is gone, a type that is trusted lives on. It is a famous example of the lesson that the credit of money rests in image and standard rather than in the life or death of a monarch, and restriking by the Vienna Mint continues even now.