Who can tell me more about this old German rechenpfennig?

I bought this because I collect coins with turtles on it, and I wasn't sure I would see another one if I didn't take a chance on it. It was described as a rechenpfennig from 1612-1651 from the German state of Nurnberg. What I'm wondering is first of all, what's a rechenpfennig? Was this used as money? Anything else you can tell me? First I thought it had to do with Lent, but I know lente means "slow" in Spanish so it's probably something to do with that in Latin too, which goes with the turtle.

 

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Here's an old thread I found concerning the same coin.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/turtle-bull-rechenpfennig.286384/

I believe that rechenpfennig is the denomination (i.e. nickel, dime, etc.).
It's from the region of Nuremberg, Germany.

The text is in Latin and translates to:

ASSIDUITATE ET TOLERANTIA - Perseverance and tolerance
FESTINA LENTE - Make haste slowly

 

Thanks for finding that old thread. Too bad no one else replied to that one. I'm not sure that it's just a denomination though. According to the thread you shared it was more like a jeton used for counting, but I don't know if this one person's info is correct. I know there were some rechenpfennigs from the Weimar era in Germany too. Those are like regular coins. I'm not sure how they differ from the pfennig or reichspfennig.

 

What you may have in mind when it comes to Weimar is the Rentenpfennig. That money was issued at the end of the hyperinflation period; formally it was not legal tender but accepted and regularly used.

A Rechenpfennig (see this post for example, and the links there) was a calculation jeton. We have quite a few posts about them here, in various topics. Those pieces were not used to make payments ...

Christian

 

Very cool coin and great question. That coin depicts Hercules holding a Cretan (as in from Crete) bull. https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=4434&category=123176&lot=3641937

Rechenpfennige were used for a “Rechnung” or calculation. Turns out that Nürnberg was the location where most of these were minted for Germany. These “coins” were placed on a sort of board, and their positioning was linked to certain values. Strings were then attached to the board and moving them around allowed for adding, subtracting and even multiplication and division. (I have no idea how exactly this worked, but it’s basically a form of abacus).

Here’s where I just learned about them. Sorry, the languages for these are German (or other foreign languages) only, but I’m sure you could put it in a translator if you like.
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechnen_auf_Linien

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechenpfennig#/languages

Here’s English reading on the Latin above the turtle. The image of the turtle with the sales helps illustrate the meaning of the word. Making haste slowly: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festina_lente
Edit: I believe the other Latin means “always vigilant and tolerant”

This is a very cool part of European history. @Eduard @micbraun @chrisild I thought you guys might enjoy this thread. Edit: I didn’t see you already comment Christian!