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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Eidolon, post: 4517924, member: 102103&quot;]Day 63:&nbsp; Continuing the billion photo series, some Prussian silber groschen</p><p><br /></p><p>Top:&nbsp; 1824 A, Friedrich Wilhelm III, 0.222 fine</p><p>Bottom:&nbsp; 1872 A Wilhelm I, 0.222 fine</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1119257[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1119258[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Prussia seems to have used a variety if different silver finenesses for its denominational coinage, from 0.222 for the 1/2 and 1 silber groschen, up to 0.900 for the double thaler.&nbsp; At 30 silber groschen to the thaler, I made a little chart of all the 1800s Prussian silver denominations to show what fraction of full bodied they were compared to the thaler.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1119261[/ATTACH] </p><p>The smaller denominations contain only about 87% silver content for their value.&nbsp; Keeping small denominations slightly underweight was a common practice in multiple countries in response to chronic shortages of silver small change.&nbsp; This made small change less attractive targets to be melted or exported.&nbsp; Oddly, two of the denominations from before the 1821 currency standardization seem to have been significantly overweight compared to the thaler.&nbsp; These were the 4 groschen (made until 1809) and the 2/3 thaler (made until 1810).&nbsp; I don&#039;t believe Prussia was on the gold standard yet, so I&#039;m not sure how these could have coexisted at the same time as the thaler, which was consistent in weight and fineness over this era.&nbsp; In spite of the variations in fineness, the rest of the larger denominations from the 5 groschen up to the double thaler all have about the same silver content per unit.</p><p><br /></p><p>The silber groschen also provides a nice example of why small coins were made out of billon.&nbsp; At 2.19 g of 0.222 fineness, it only contained 0.4842 g of silver content.&nbsp; If it had been made of 90% silver with the same value, it would have needed to be a tiny coin weighing only about 0.54 grams.&nbsp; Comparing that to the smallest US silver coins from the 1800s, like the 1.35 g half dime or the 0.75 g Type II 3-cent piece, you can see how impractical that would have been.&nbsp; And a half silber groschen would have been even tinier, only 0.27 grams if made at 90% fineness.&nbsp; Anyway, if one wanted to make small-denomination coinage out of silver, billon alloy was the only practical way to make them large enough to handle.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Countries like England with a strong tradition of not changing the fineness of silver denominations (at least until Henry VIII&#039;s debasements) did make silver halfpennies and farthings (about 0.4 grams) with tiny weights, but they were probably no more practical than cutting a silver penny in half as needed.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1119278[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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