Variation with the initials CO under the bust of the mint master Christoph Örber.
Maximilian III, as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in the years 1590–1618, Thaler 1616, Mint Hall
Obverse: bust facing right
MAXIMILIANVS D G ARCH AN DVX BVR STI CAR
Reverse: shield with a cross of the Teutonic Order
ET CARN MAG PRVSS AD COM HA ET TIRO
Weight 27.89 g
A very interesting value. The Teutonic Order is mainly associated with activities in Prussia and Latvia, while this thaler was minted in Hall in Tirol.
In 1586, after the death of Stephen Bathory, Maximilian III became one of the four candidates of the Habsburg dynasty to the Polish throne. Part of the Polish nobility chose Maximilian as king, but as a result of the rather chaotic course of the election process, another candidate was also chosen, the prince of Sweden, Sigismund III Vasa, the grandson of Sigismund I the Old. Maximilian made an attempt to resolve the dispute by bringing the armed forces to Poland, thus starting the war of the Polish succession. After an unsuccessful attempt to storm Krakow at the end of 1587, he was defeated in January 1588 in the Battle of Byczyna. Maximilian was captured and was released only a year and a half later after the Pope intervened.
