WWI Box Thaler

Little bit of history to start with. The first large silver dollar size silver coins were minted by the Counts of Schlick in the Joachimsthal of Bohemia during the early 1500‘s. The coins became very popular and were soon called “thalers” meaning from the valley in German and that word eventually evolved into our word dollar. A box thaler was a hollowed out thaler mostly used as a locket for pictures of family, erotica, tobacco and rarely by spies and smugglers. By the time of the First World War, the old thalers were just a memory so this so called box thaler is just a privately made medal featuring Bavarian King Ludwig III on the obverse and the Bavarian coat of arms on the reverse above the word “BAYERNTHALER” (Bavarian Thaler). This silver plated brass “thaler” pulls apart to reveal a chain of 30 color paper discs showing leaders, heroes, scenes of victories and virtues as of 1916. This is a neat example of nostalgia 1916 style.