Frederick II's copper fractional coinage of the early 1750s was partly a pragmatic response to the monetary disruptions preceding the Seven Years' War, which Prussia entered in 1756. Small copper pieces were chronically short in Brandenburg-Prussian territories, and Frederick — whatever his reputation as a philosopher-king — was unsentimental about currency policy, debasing silver coinage aggressively during the war years that followed this very issue.
Frederick II's copper fractional coinage of the early 1750s was partly a pragmatic response to the monetary disruptions preceding the Seven Years' War, which Prussia entered in 1756. Small copper pieces were chronically short in Brandenburg-Prussian territories, and Frederick — whatever his reputation as a philosopher-king — was unsentimental about currency policy, debasing silver coinage aggressively during the war years that followed this very issue.