MOTHER THERESA THALERS OR DOLLARS

These silver thalers first issued in 1780 are among the most famous coins in the world. This unofficial trade dollar, portraying the Empress Theresa with the date frozen at 1780 (the year of her death) has been struck intermittently since 1781 to modern times at many world mints.
It has been used far beyond the borders of Austria in many areas that lacked a firm local coinage. This coin was the recognized currency in the Middle East and in a number of African countries. The Austrian Republic continued to issue the Mother Theresa thalers long after the abdication of the last Hapsburg emperor. All the thalers have been dated 1780 regardless of the year they were minted. Some scholars can discern minute differences so accurately that they can readily determine the period of any thaler. They are fairly common and are often incorporated in jewelry.
The original thalers were struck at the Gunzburg mint.

Since then thalers have been struck at the following mints:

• Vienna until 1956 and thereafter, mainly to satisfy the demand from Arabian countries.


• Milan and Venice - 19th century


• Rome 1935-39 - For use in Ethiopia after Italy`s conquest in the 1930`s.


• Florence - 1935-39


• Paris -1935-57


• London - 1936-61


• Birmingham - 1949-55


• Brussels - 1937-57


• Bombay - 1940-41


• Prague until 1975

• Leningrad until 1975

An estimated 800 million were struck to date.

Mother Theresa Proof Thaler