Austrian 1650 Salzburg Groschen

The 1650 Salzburg Groschen bears the armored bust of Archbishop Paris Lodron, who maintained the city's neutrality through the Thirty Years' War, a feat that kept his minting operations humming while others burned.

These ecclesiastical issues were struck in silver at the Salzburg mint, likely on planchets sourced from local mines. The obverse typically shows Lodron's portrait, while the reverse features a coat of arms with ecclesiastical symbols, reflecting the archbishopric's dual role as church and state.

Mintage figures for this year are unknown; whatever records existed probably vanished in later conflicts or neglect. That's numismatics for you—full of gaps.

Sometimes, you find these coins with a telltale clip on the edge, where someone tried to shave off a bit of silver. Frugal souls, those 17th-century hoarders.