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1 Dreiling
| Issuer | Hamburg, Free Hanseatic city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1765-1766 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The crowned three-towered castle of Hamburg, serving as the city arms, is depicted centrally, flanked on either side by a leafy olive or laurel branch. Below the castle, the mintmaster's initials O·H·K· appear in the lower field, resting above the tied base of the wreath. The design is rendered in a simple but bold relief typical of small German billon coinage of the mid-18th century. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Hamburg's Dreiling — a denomination unique to the city — was a low-value copper-silver alloy piece that persisted long after most German states had abandoned such fractional billon coinage. The 1765–1766 dates bracket a period of acute monetary pressure in the city, when the near-collapse of the Banco Hamburgo in 1763, triggered by the credit crisis following the Seven Years' War, forced Hamburg to manage its small-denomination currency with unusual care. Merchant confidence in fiduciary coinage was fragile.
Three Dreilings equaled one Schilling Hamburgisch. That arithmetic placed this coin at the absolute base of a currency system built around one of northern Europe's most sophisticated banking cities.