(sold for $102.0)

1775, Brandenburg-Ansbach, Christian Frederick Charles Alexander. Silver Thaler. R! He hired    troops to Britain   for the Colonies in America!

Mint year: 1775 Mint Place: Schwabach (S) Denomination: Silver Thaler Reference: Davenport 2011, KM-301 ($225 in VF!). Condition: Cleaned with remaining deposits, otherwise about VF! Weight: 27.77gm Diameter: 40mm Material: Silver   Obverse: Bare bust of  Christian Frederick Charles Alexander right. Mint master's initials (G) below. Legend: ALEXANDER . D . G . MARCH : BRAND .   Reverse: Crowned and squared coat-of-arms with two eagles at sides. All set on a base with a mint initial (S) in oval frame below, which splits date (17-75). Legend: ZEHEN  EINE FEINE  MARK / 17 (S) 75.

One of Charles Alexander's enterprises earned income from hiring   auxiliary troops to George III of Great Britain   for the Colonies in America. He had nominal command over the "Frankish   Army" of 1,644 mercenaries, of whom apparently only 1,183 returned to   their homeland in 1783.

Christian Frederick Charles Alexander (German: Christian   Friedrich Karl Alexander) (24 February 1736 in Ansbach -   5 January 1806 in Benham Castle near Speen) was the last Margrave of the two Franconian principalities Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth.

His parents were Charles William Frederick, Margrave of   Brandenburg-Ansbach and Friederike Luise of   Prussia, the daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia and sister of Frederick II of Prussia.

After the sudden death of his elder brother Charles Frederick August   on 9 May 1737, "Alexander," as he later called himself, became Crown   Prince of the principality. From 1748 to 1759, he studied in Utrecht. As the young "Count of Sayn" (the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen in the Westerwald having   been absorbed into the Principality of Ansbach in 1741) he   travelled to Turin and Savoy.

On 22 November 1754, in Coburg, Charles Alexander married Caroline   Friederike von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld (1735-1791), daughter of Franz   Josias, Duke of Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld and Anne Sophie, Princess of   Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

On 3 August 1757, Charles Alexander became the Margrave of   Brandenburg-Ansbach. The Residenz of the principality was Ansbach, but Charles Alexander preferred his   hunting estate and country seat in Triesdorf. Here, he renovated the   "White Castle" for his mistress Hippolyte Clairon, the "Red Castle" for   himself, and built the Villa Sandrina for another mistress,   "Fräulein Kurz", and the "Round Villa" (Villa Rotunda) for his   mistress (and later wife) Elizabeth Craven.

In 1758, Charles Alexander founded the porcelain factory in Ansbach and made ventures into agriculture by   importing sheep. In 1769, he acquired the principality of Bayreuth pursuant to the Haus- und Reichsgesetze laws of the House of Hohenzollern.

In 1780, Charles Alexander founded his own bank, the Hochfürstlich-Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuthische   Hofbanco, out of which later came the Bayerische Hypotheken- und   Wechselbank ("Bavarian Mortgage and Change Bank", today absorbed   into the HypoVereinsbank). He evidently wanted to   avoid supporting the Jewish banking houses that were then overseeing   his financial affairs, and to keep as much of his revenue as possible in   his own hands by setting himself up as a private banker.

One of Charles Alexander's enterprises earned income from hiring   auxiliary troops to George III of Great Britain   for the Colonies in America. He had nominal command over the "Frankish   Army" of 1,644 mercenaries, of whom apparently only 1,183 returned to   their homeland in 1783. The Margrave rented further troops to Holland.   With these incomes, he paid down the principality's debts, which   amounted to 5,000,000 guilders at the time he took office (1757). By the   time of his abdication 34 years later, the principality's debt stood at   only 1,500,000 guilders.

Charles Alexander's first wife Caroline Friederike died on 18   February 1791 in Unterschwaningen, where she had lived   since separating from her husband. On 19 May of the same year, Charles   Alexander left Triesdorf for England.

On 13 October or 30 October 1791, in Lisbon, he   married Lady Elizabeth Craven (1750-1828), the daughter   of the 4th Earl of Berkeley,   and widow of the 6th Baron Craven, who had   died shortly before.

On 16 January 1791, Charles Alexander sold his Margravate to Prussia.   The contract was arranged by Charles August, Baron of Hardenberg, who   had been Acting Minister in Ansbach since 1790. Under the terms of the   contract, Prussia paid the Margrave as compensation an annual stipend of   300,000 guilders.

On 2 December, in Bordeaux, France, he signed his formal abdication as Margrave.

The Franconian region over which he had ruled changed hands many   times. On 15 December 1805, in the first Treaty of Schönbrunn, Prussia ceded the Principality of Ansbach to France in   exchange for the Electorate of Hanover;   in 1806, Ansbach was acquired by the Kingdom of Bavaria in exchange for the Duchy of Berg, and soon   afterwards, the Prussian defeat at Jena on 14   October 1806 resulted in the cession of the Principality of Bayreuth to the   French in the Treaty of Tilsit in   July 1807.   In 1810, Bayreuth was acquired by Bavaria. Finally, in 1871, Bavaria   was incorporated into the North German Confederation to   form a German Empire under Prussian control.

Charles Alexander sailed to England as a private citizen with his second   wife, and there the couple dedicated themselves to breeding horses. By   December 1791, he had found a property near the River   Thames at Hammersmith, and in 1798, he acquired the Benham   Park estate at Speen near Newbury in Berkshire.   On 5 January 1806, aged 69, Charles Alexander died after a short   illness caused by lung disease. Today, a memorial in St Mary's Church in Speen, simply records "In Memory of the Margrave of   Anspach, who died at Benham 5th January 1806".

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