silver into 13 1⁄2 Reichs thalers, or 20 guldens. This latter system, after the accession to it of Bavaria, obtained the name of the Convention Standard, and the 2-gulden pieces minted under it are styled the Species or Convention Thaler. The convention system remained Page 202 in force in Austria until the Vienna Coinage Convention of 1857, a period during which the Convention Thaler found wide circulation through South Germany.
The currency was eked out by the Austrian gold ducats and by vast quantities of foreign silver, French 6-livre thalers (current for 2 florins 48 kreutzers) and the crown or Brabant thaler (current for 2 florins 42 kreutzers). From 1807 onwards this latter coin was imitated by the South German States, Bavaria especially, in their crown thaler, minted on a fresh basis of 24 1⁄2 guldens to the mark of fine silver.
The selfish initiative of Austria was followed by Prussia and the South German States. The latter, the Rhenish and South German States, adopted in 1761-65 the 24-gulden; subsequently changed into the 24 1⁄2-gulden standard (see Appendix VI.). The overvaluation of the Kronthaler, which led to that latest development from a 24 to a 24 1⁄2-gulden standard, was the result of the immense circulation of French 6-livre pieces (known in Germany as Laubthalers) in South-West Germany. Graumann quite discredits the theory that the overswimming of South Germany by these French pieces, with all the confusion in the currency which resulted, was due to the wars and the progress of French arms, and directly attributes it to the depreciation of the French specie,