A silver coin first minted in 1518 in the German States.
The name thaler originally came from the guldengroschen (great gulden, being of silver but equal in value to a gold gulden) coins minted from the silver from a rich mine at Joachimstal (St. Joachim's Valley) in what is now Czechoslovakia and called the joachimstaler (from thal, the suffix which means valley). St. Joachem, the father of the Virgin Mary was protrayed on the coin.
The thaler was a very popular coins and became used thoughout Europe with equivalent coins such as the peso and the crown being issued and in general use. In England the word dollar was in use for the thaler for 200 years before the issuance of the American Dollar.