1/5-thaler pieces 319,522 thalers 1/12 " " 135,504 " 1/15 " " 428,256 " ------- 883,282 ----------- 185,805,778 =========== The gold coinage had, in Prussia, little relativity to the silver. From 1750 this state minted double, single, and half-pistoles, under the name, Friedrichs d'or, on the basis of 35 to the mark, 21-3/4 carats fine, for the single piece. From 1770 the standard was lowered to 21-2/3 carats, and at this it was confirmed by the law of September 1821. The ascertained mintings of these were as follows:-- 1764-86 29,599,482-1/2 thalers. 1787-1808 26,515,490 " 1809-36 13,922,960 " But long before 1840 almost the whole of this amount had disappeared or been melted down. In state payments the Friedrich d'or was taken at 5 thalers, but in ordinary commerce up to 1783 they were taken at 5-1/4 thalers, a tariff which gradually rose to 5-1/3 and 5-1/2 thalers. The purchases of gold which the Bank of England made in 1816, in order to its resumption of cash payments, drove the pistole or Friedrich d'or up to 5-3/4 thalers, and it was not for ten years that it fell back to 5-2/3 thalers. Although paid by Government at this latter, and so continued till the Mint Convention of 1853, it was only as a mercantile commodity. The only legal standard and tender in Prussia was silver (the silver thaler), to which gold was varyingly ratable, according to market fluctuations. The Prussian system thus described remained in force until the Vienna coinage treaty of 24th January 1857, the details of which have been already stated in the text. The resolutions of that treaty were adopted by the Prussian Mint law of 4th May 1857, as follows:-- 1. The Prussian pound of 500 grms., decimally divided, is substituted for the previous standard of 233.865 grms. 2-6. The thaler continues the regular silver coin of the country-- Thirty thalers to the pound of pure silver, .900 fine. Thus the 30-thaler standard to take the place of the old 14-thaler standard, but the two to be treated as the same. The thaler to be coinable as a convention thaler or Vereins thaler; thaler to be subdivided into 30 groschens, at 12 pfennige. 7-8. Divisional coin limited in tender to 1/6 thaler as before, and both minted on a 34-1/2-thaler standard. 11. Gold commercial coins shall be coined under the names of "crown" and "half-crown," in the form and with the attribution of confederation coins, viz.-- 1. Crown, 1/50 of a pound of fine gold (.900 fine). 2. Half-crown, 1/100 " " These coins shall be the special gold coins of the country, and other gold pieces shall not henceforth be coined.