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Old German Coins

Money from before the mark.

Genuine old German silver coins from four centuries.

1 kreuzer of the Imperial City of Regensburg: crowned double-headed eagle, on its breast a shield with the value numeral 11 kreuzer of the Imperial City of Regensburg: two crossed keys in an ornate cartouche, above them the date, below them the letters IMF

Regensburg

The keys of Saint Peter.

The arms of the Imperial City of Regensburg show two crossed keys. They are the emblem of Saint Peter, patron saint of the cathedral, and have appeared on the city’s coins since 1366.

Photochrom of Regensburg, about 1890 to 1900: the Stone Bridge, behind it the cathedral with its two towers, on the right the bridge tower
1 kreuzer of the Imperial City of Regensburg: two crossed keys in an ornate cartouche
The arms side: the date at the top, the keys in the middle, the letters IMF at the bottom. View this kreuzer

From 1663 to 1806 the Perpetual Diet, the permanent assembly of the envoys of the Imperial Estates, sat in Regensburg. It met in the Old Town Hall, not far from the Stone Bridge.

The kreuzer takes its name from the cross (Kreuz): it was first a coin with a cross in its design, struck in the 13th century in Tyrol. Later, 60 kreuzer made one gulden.

As of 1871

Seven coinage systems, 119 kinds of coin.

That is how many there still were in 1871 in the 25 federal states of the new German Empire, from ducats, thalers and gulden to groten, hellers and stübers. The old German silver coins here come from three large regions.

Source: Deutscher Bundestag, Kalenderblatt zum 24. November 1871

In the north: the thaler

In Prussia a thaler had 24 groschen; from 1821 it had 30 silbergroschen.

In the south: the gulden

A gulden had 60 kreuzer. A batzen was worth 4 kreuzer, a half batzen 2.

In Hamburg: the mark

A mark had 16 schilling, a schilling 12 pfennig. The sechsling was half a schilling.

1511 to 1814

Four coins, four stories.

1/2 batzen of the Imperial City of Kempten: three-part shield of Austria, Burgundy and Tyrol, legend with CAMPIDONENSIS

16th century

1/2 batzen, Imperial City of Kempten, struck 1511 to 1533

A Kempten half batzen of 1511 in the Landesmuseum Württemberg lay in a hoard that was probably hidden in 1525 and found only in 1929. In 1525 the prince-abbot, hard pressed by rebellious peasants, ceded to the city for 30,000 gulden all the rights the monastery still held within the city’s territory.

2 kreuzer from Bavaria: shield with the Bavarian lozenges, around it a legend of single letters

17th century

2 kreuzer, Electorate of Bavaria, struck 1623 to 1636

Shortly before came the “Kipper und Wipper” era, according to the Bundesbank the greatest inflation in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. With a balance, the Wippe, people sorted out the good coins. In 1623 and 1624 a return to the old imperial coinage ordinance began.

1/3 thaler of Frederick II: head of the king with laurel wreath, legend FRIDERICUS BORUSSORUM REX

18th century

1/3 thaler, Frederick II, struck 1764 to 1786

In the Seven Years’ War, Frederick II had millions of debased coins struck in Saxony and Prussia with backdated Saxon dies. After 1763 this war money was withdrawn and devalued by up to 60 per cent. From 1764 coins were again struck to the Graumann standard, 14 thalers from one mark of silver.

6 kreuzer from Württemberg: monogram of King Frederick, below it VI KREUZER, legend KONIGL. WURT. SCHEIDE MUNZ

19th century

6 kreuzer, Kingdom of Württemberg, struck 1806 to 1814

On 1 January 1806 Frederick became King of Württemberg. In July, according to the Neue Deutsche Biographie, he had to join Napoleon’s Confederation of the Rhine “despite strong reluctance”. On his 6‑kreuzer pieces he had KONIGL. WURT. SCHEIDE MUNZ struck: royal Württemberg subsidiary coin.

9 July 1873

Then the Empire converted it all.

The Coinage Act laid down what the old money was worth in the new mark:

1 thaler
3 marks
1 gulden of South German currency
1 5/7 marks
1 mark Hamburg courant
1 1/5 marks
Münzgesetz vom 9. Juli 1873, Article 14, § 2

The page on the gold coins of the German Empire tells how the thaler and the gulden became the mark.

In gold we also offer official restrikes by the Austrian Mint here: 1 and 4 ducats dated 1915, and 4 and 8 florins dated 1892.

4 ducats, official restrike dated 1915: bust of Emperor Franz Joseph I with laurel wreath, legend FRANC IOS I D G AVSTRIAE IMPERATOR
View the 4 ducats
Gold coins of the German Empire Ducats
Sources: Deutscher Bundestag (Kalenderblatt zum 24. November 1871), Deutsche Bundesbank (Zur Einführung der Mark im Dezember 1871; Die Kipper- und Wipperzeit von 1618 bis 1623), Münzgesetz vom 9. Juli 1873, Münzkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Münzkabinett Winterthur, Landesmuseum Württemberg, Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, Neue Deutsche Biographie, Münze Österreich, DWDS. Image: photochrom “Regensburg, Steinerne Brücke”, Photoglob Zürich and Detroit Publishing, about 1890 to 1900, Library of Congress (no known restrictions on publication), detail, colours slightly warmer.
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