1 Heller - Ernest

Saxe-Hildburghausen was among the smallest of the Ernestine Saxon duchies, carved out of the endlessly subdivided Wettin inheritance in 1680 when Ernst of Saxe-Coburg assigned it to his youngest son Ernst Friedrich I. The duchy's territory was so financially strained that Ernest Friedrich spent decades petitioning the Imperial court over debts and succession disputes. Copper heller issues like this one represent the lowest practical denomination his mint could produce — small change for a small state that could barely sustain its own minting operation.