Lauingen's Kipper coinage belongs to the most inflationary episode in German monetary history before the twentieth century — the Kipper- und Wipperzeit of roughly 1619–1623, when hundreds of petty German states debased their currencies so aggressively that the entire Holy Roman Empire's small-change economy collapsed. Municipal mints that had no business striking coins were suddenly doing so, flooding markets with underweight copper and billon issues while hoarding full-weight silver.
Lauingen, a small Bavarian Danube town, was among the opportunists. Its participation was brief, which keeps survivors scarce.
Lauingen's Kipper coinage belongs to the most inflationary episode in German monetary history before the twentieth century — the Kipper- und Wipperzeit of roughly 1619–1623, when hundreds of petty German states debased their currencies so aggressively that the entire Holy Roman Empire's small-change economy collapsed. Municipal mints that had no business striking coins were suddenly doing so, flooding markets with underweight copper and billon issues while hoarding full-weight silver.
Lauingen, a small Bavarian Danube town, was among the opportunists. Its participation was brief, which keeps survivors scarce.