2/3 Thaler States of Germany Silver

1698, Brunswick-Luneburg-Calenberg-Hannover, George Louis. Silver 2/3 Thaler. He was both Duke of Hanover and King of England.

Mint Year: 1698 Reference: KM-17. Mint Place: Clausthal Denomination: 2/3 Thaler (Gulden) Mint Master: Heinrich Bonhorst (HB, 1675-1711) Weight: 12.87gm Diameter: 36mm Material: Silver

Obverse: Leping horse left. Motto (IN RECTO DECUS - "Honor in doing right!") above. Thaler value (2/3) below. Legend: IN RECTO DECUS * FEIN (2/3) SILB: * Reverse: Crowned shield with multiple coat-of-arms, splitting date (16-98) and mint master´s initials (H-B) in fields. Legend: GEORG : LUD : D . G . D . BR . & . LUN : S . R . I . EL .

The House of Hanover (the Hanoverians) is a Germanic royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg (German: Braunschweig-Lüneburg), the Kingdom of Hanover and the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. It succeeded the House of Stuart as monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714 and held that office until the death of Victoria in 1901. They are sometimes referred to as the House of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Hanover line. The House of Hanover is a younger branch of the House of Welf, which in turn is the senior branch of the House of Este, with all three being offshoots of the ancient Saxon House of Wettin.

Queen Victoria was the granddaughter of George III, and was a descendant of most major European royal houses. She arranged marriages for her children and grandchildren across the continent, tying Europe together; this earned her the nickname “the grandmother of Europe.” She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover; her son King Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha since she could not inherit the German kingdom and duchies under Salic law. Those possessions passed to the next eligible male heir, her uncle Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale—the fifth son of George III. In the United Kingdom, after World War I, King George V changed the house’s name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the currently serving House of Windsor in 1917. Both dynastic names are offshoots of the 800-plus years old House of Wettin.

George I (George Louis; German: Georg Ludwig; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698.

George was born in Hanover, in what is now Germany, and inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father and uncles. A succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime, and in 1708 he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although over fifty Roman Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne. George, however, was Anne’s closest living Protestant relative. In reaction, Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne’s Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed.

During George’s reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by a prime minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first de facto prime minister. George died on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried.