TRIVIA: Thalers of the German States... When the German Empire came into being in 1871, 38 German States (of about 1800) still existed. When the German Empire was formed a new major currency emerged along with the new nation; the Mark. All minor coins and the silver 1 Mark were struck at government owned mints, but the 38 German States wre given the right to authorize the issuing of silver coins in denominations of 2, 3, and 5 Mark plus gold coins of 10 and 20 Mark. These had to be struck by a nearby government mint. The previous major currency was the Thaler, which was minted by the individual States' own mints or at neighboring states' mints. The minor coinage of both major denominations consisted of Pfennig and multiples of Pfennigs. A few of the German States issued coins bearing the denomination Dreiling which translates to 3 Pfennigs. Many German States produced variable fractional Thalers. Both Thaler and Mark could be broken down to 100 Pfennigs. As we look at the Thaler Currencies of the German States we will visit each entity in alphabetical OrderWe started with A for Anhalt-Bernberg. This posting stays in the A category, but stands for Anhalt-Kothen whose territories are depicted on this map. MAP OF ANHALT-KOTHEN TERRITORIES Let's look at some of Anhalt-Kothen's Thaler coinage (courtesy of Coin Archives): Anhalt-Kothen: Take a look at a photo of this Anhalt-Kothen 1650 Thaler issued under the leadership of Ludwig: ANHALT-KOTHEN 1650 THALER - LUDWIG Feast your eyes on this photo of an Anhalt-Kothen 1750 silver 1/3 Thaler issued under the leadership of August Ludwig: ANHALT-KOTHEN 1750 SILVER 1/3 THALER - AUGUST LUDWIG Here's a photo of Anhalt-Kothen 1840 Vereinsdoppelthaler (3 1/2 Gulden or 1 Mark) issued under the leadership of Heinreich: ANHALT-KOTHEN 1840 VEREINSDOPPELTHALER - HENREICH With the death of Duke Henry in 1847 the Anhalt-Köthen line became extinct and was inherited by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau. Hope you enjoyed this posting... Clinker
Hey, don't be that rotten. That piece was issued to commemorate his death. And yes, Clinker, another interesting post! Christian
To Inquisitive: Good to see that you read the article and appreciate your comment. To Chrisild: Hi, my friend, and once again I THANK you 3x over gor reading, sharing your knowledge and for your generous comment! Clinker
Pardon me for interrupting the group hug. I appreciate Clinker's passion for research; and I wish that more people would post the way he does. The problem is that he never cites his sources and when we hit a glitch, we don't know where it comes from. Generally speaking, the system in western and central Europe derived from the Roman pound both against and including the German mark and we knew it last from the UK: pence-shillings-pounds. It was not a decimal system. When Jefferson and Hamilton proposed decimal coinage many people had no idea what they were talking about. The thaler was divided into 12ths. What we call "inflation" was easily perceived as debasement. Thus, over time and place, the number of pfennig in the groschen and those in the thaler changed by time and place. If you really want to care, some of the problems derived from the change of grains in the pennyweight, when the standard grain changed from wheat to barley. Sorry to rain on the parade here. I should offer an umbrella to Clinker: he did the hard work first and it is easier to criticize than to create. What got my goat was all the swooning.
Except for those, of course, who knew about the Russian decimal system that already existed at that time. What should also be kept in mind that different currency systems in different countries are not necessarily a matter of inflation or debasement. Baden or Hessen-Nassau, for example, plain and simply had a currency system that was different from that of, say, Lippe or Hannover. The Vereinsthaler you refer to did not come into existence until 1857, but the coins that Clinker showed us are quite a bit older. Anhalt at that time (mid-1830s) had a 17.5 g silver taler based system with 1 Taler being 24 Groschen or 288 Pfennig as far as I know. In my opinion, by the way, it is more fruitful to simply point at errors and correct them. Christian
