Three dies in use A second obvers, slightly variant, is known (Lej.1a). The obvers was engraved on the punch die, which wears out more quickly than the avil die. The strike on the punch die deforms the planchet and reduces the load on the avil die. Therefore, there it was quite common to have more punch dies than avil ones, as in this case. Mintage of short duration In 1556, the town commissioned mintmaster Valentin Sickel (mm. clover) to mint thalers and quarter thalers. However, the mintage had hardly begun when it had to be stopped again. The dies had not yet been paid so that the die cutter of Brunswick had to sue for his pay. The town's mintage was not continued until 1616. Many mint right owners ignored the Imperial Mint Order of 1551 because of rising silver prices. As a result, the mint edict of 26 September 1555 refused mintage to all estates of the realm that did not own mines. Therefore, Nordhausen should not have begun with mintage. Besides, the revers with the Emperor's effigy contradicted the design rule for the revers (i.e. a double eagle with imperial orb). Other cities without own mines, like Kempten, stopped coinage immediately as the mint edict of 1555 demanded. That's how the first thaler of Nordhausen came to be the last thaler with Charles' effigy that was issued during his lifetime. Only Besançon still used Charles's effigy on coins after his death.