1 Dreier - John George I and August

The joint coinage of John George I and his elder brother August reflects a peculiar transitional moment in Saxon electoral politics. August held the electoral dignity while John George administered portions of the divided Saxon territories; their co-appearance on currency was brief, as August died in 1615, leaving John George as sole elector. The Dreier — a three-pfennig piece struck in debased silver — was the workhorse small denomination of early seventeenth-century Saxony, circulating heavily through the Leipzig trade fairs that dominated central European commerce.