My article yesterday didn't get much attention. I'll see what I can do today.
Joseph II was the monarch of the Age of Enlightenment. He abolished serfdom, ordered some religious tolerance. He introduced house numbering and mandatory surnames. He usually carried out two reforms a day.
Of course, he tried centralization, unification and rationalization. But his time did not favor all this. He couldn't even unify money in his countries.
Other coins circulated in the Austrian Netherlands, others in Hungary, others in Bohemia and Austria. And you used completely different coins to pay in northern Italy, where the Austrian territory of Lombardi-Venezia existed.
I am currently showing the coins of the Italian territory. When I say they were different coins, I don't mean they just had different images. They differed in weight, gold and silver content, and nominal value. In the 18th century, the Habsburg teritory was more or less only a personal union.
Coins:
- Souverain d´Or, 1766, diameter 25 mm, 6.98 g, purity of gold 986/1000
- Scudo (6 lire), 1785, diameter 40 mm, 23.1 g, purity of silver 896/1000
- 1/2 Scudo (3 lire), 1783, diameter 32 mm, 11.556 g, purity of silver 896/1000
- 1 Lira, 1786, diameter 27 mm, 6.25 g, purity of silver 552/1000
I find those coins really beautiful. But to prove that I'm also a silvergoldstacker and not just a collector, I'll probably have to show some modern US silver coins next time.