1 Dreier - Philip Ernest of Langenburg

Issued during the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the catastrophic currency debasement crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623 — this small billon piece emerges from one of the most chaotic monetary episodes in German history. Petty lords and minor counts, including those of the fragmented Hohenlohe territories, exploited imperial monetary disorder by issuing debased coinage at profit, flooding regional markets before the inevitable collapse. Philip Ernest ruled Langenburg from 1610 until his death in 1628, and 1623 marks the tail end of the crisis, when attempts at stabilization were already underway.