Quarter Reichstaler
1624 ・ silver ・ 17th century ・ City of Hildesheim
A quarter Reichstaler dated 1624, from just after the coin frenzy of the Kipper und Wipper had been brought under control. On the face, the arms of the city of Hildesheim; on the back, the name of the emperor Ferdinand II and the double-headed eagle of the empire. It wears that return in its own body: the storm of debasement past, the territories back to the old Reichstaler standard. The name of a city and the name of an emperor share one coin — here too is the German form of a unity made of divided powers, in which the standard is held in common across the empire while each place strikes its own face.