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netary values are: 114.000 florin-gulden for silver and 335.795 florin-gulden for gold, together representing the worth of approximately 440 million Austrian Shillings of our time - per year!
Please look at survey 3 „comparison of price-values" (= Dia 3)
Comparing the quantities it emerges that gold held only approximately one fourth of the amount of silver. The relation turns into its direct opposite the very moment the monetary value is taken into consideration. Gold, though only ¼ in quantity, yielded approximately three times as much monetary value as silver. Supposing that the costs for the production of gold were only insignificantly higher than those for silver it seems well justified to assume the productivity of the gold production-processes being ten times higher than that of silver.
Goldseisen's recordings of the „Silberhandel" also enable us to assess details of taxation. Parallel to the feudal tenure-system in the realm of agriculture the sovereign levied the „Frone", a tithe in form of normally one tenth of the production of ore, but several exemption were possible.What, however counted more was the „Wechsel", the exchange of pure gold-and silver-ingots against coins in the form of florin-gulden or ducats. Originally the „Wechsel" was a fixed amount of money, that is to say half a florin-gulden (4 Shillings) for one mark (weight) of silver and four florin-gulden for one mark (weight) of gold. In its beginning it was apparently intended to be a sort of fee covering the exchanging- procedure: gold- and silver-ingots against coins. However, in the times of the „Silberhandel" this term was extended to designate also the difference between two prices for the mark (weight), the lower of these two prices being paid by the sovereign to the mining entrepreneurs and the higher price as monetary advantage for the sovereign by either coining the noble metals in the Salzburg mint or by selling gold-and silver-ingots on the free market.
Please look at survey 4 („tax-advantage for the sovereign") (=dia 4)
The total taxation advantage for the sovereign amounted to approximately three florin-gulden (instead of ½ a florin-gulden of the old „Wechsel") for silver and to approximately 32 florin-gulden (instead of 4 florin-gulden of the old „Wechsel") for gold. Taking the best year 1557 it emerges that, taking tithe and „Wechsel" together and deducting manipulation and administration costs, the sovereign enjoyed no less than 127.751 florin-gulden from the mines, in our time approximately 120 million Austrian Shillings. As an overal-result this figure means a taxation of 23 % (Gruber-Ludwig, 1980, p. 26) on the basis of the market value of all noble metals produced in the „best" year 1557.
Please look at survey 5 („decrease of production") (=dia5)
The decline of the production was very rapid. Within 15 years there was a diminution of 50 % and at the end of the 16th century only minimal quantities of a few kilograms were produced. As to the reasons for this percipitating decline the older interpretations were not right when they assumed:
a) covering of the mines by glacial ice (Ertl, 1975; Imhof, 1936; Posepny, 1880 and 1914)
b) expulsion of mine-workers for religious reasons (Imhof, 1936; Reissacher, 1863)
c) cheap gold and silver from the New World (Florentin, 1937; Rochata, 1878; Reissacher, 1863).
None of these three assertions is correct. As to the question of ice (Gruber, 1996), it is very easy to prove former assertions wrong: Fact one: In hundreds of reports sent in by the local mine-officials there is not one word of ice as explanation for the decrease. Fact two: 86% of the production came from the Radhausberg (Gruber-Ludwig, 1980, p. 42), a mining area which undisputedly and scientifically provably had never any ice. Fact three: All adits, form the highest to the lowest, were interconnected with one another so that the ore-deposits could be reached inside the mountain, even in case
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