1 Groschen

Brunswick issued a flood of small silver coinage in 1620 at the precise moment the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the great debasement crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire from roughly 1618 to 1623 — was accelerating. Municipal and territorial mints across the Empire raced to strike underweight, debased coin and pass it off at face value before the inevitable collapse. Whether this particular groschen represents honest municipal coinage or participates in that debasement is the central question; at 0.89 g it sits well below earlier groschen standards, which points toward the latter.