Produced at the height of the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the currency crisis of 1618–1623 in which German mints systematically debased coinage to exploit fixed exchange rates — this heller belongs to one of the most chaotic monetary episodes in European history. Hundreds of minor lords, including Württemberg, raced to issue underweight copper and billon pieces before neighboring territories could catch on and refuse them. The scheme collapsed when over-saturated markets simply stopped accepting the coins entirely.
John Frederick I was deposed by his own family in 1628 over financial mismanagement, the Kipper crisis being a contributing factor in his duchy's fiscal ruin.
Produced at the height of the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the currency crisis of 1618–1623 in which German mints systematically debased coinage to exploit fixed exchange rates — this heller belongs to one of the most chaotic monetary episodes in European history. Hundreds of minor lords, including Württemberg, raced to issue underweight copper and billon pieces before neighboring territories could catch on and refuse them. The scheme collapsed when over-saturated markets simply stopped accepting the coins entirely.
John Frederick I was deposed by his own family in 1628 over financial mismanagement, the Kipper crisis being a contributing factor in his duchy's fiscal ruin.