½ Thaler – Kingdom of Bohemia

In 1720, the Kingdom of Bohemia, a core province of the Habsburg Monarchy, was grappling with the severe aftermath of the great currency debasement and financial crisis initiated under Emperor Charles VI. The primary circulating coin, the Konventionsmünze, had been drastically devalued. In 1719, the state had officially reduced the silver content of the gulden by nearly 50%, a desperate measure to generate revenue for the depleted imperial treasury following the costly wars of the Spanish and Ottoman succession. This deliberate debasement led to a flood of unstable, low-quality coinage, causing rampant inflation, a loss of public confidence in the currency, and significant disruption to trade and wages.

The situation was further complicated by the persistence of older, higher-quality silver coins, particularly the Reichsthaler. As Gresham's law took hold—"bad money drives out good"—these full-weight thalers were hoarded by the populace or exported, leaving the debased Konventionsmünze as the primary medium for everyday transactions. This created a chaotic monetary environment with multiple effective exchange rates, hindering commerce and creating widespread economic uncertainty. The crisis was not contained within Bohemia but was a systemic issue across the Habsburg lands, reflecting the monarchy's broader fiscal mismanagement.

In response, the year 1720 itself saw the Habsburg court in Vienna attempting to address the turmoil. Authorities began planning a comprehensive monetary reform, which would culminate in the 1722 Münzordnung (coinage ordinance). This reform aimed to stabilize the currency by defining a new, fixed relationship between the gulden and the Reichsthaler, establishing a stable Konventionsthaler standard. Thus, the currency situation in 1720 Bohemia was one of profound instability, marking the painful transition from the crisis of debasement toward a more orderly, state-controlled monetary system.