1 Kreuzer - Ernest Louis

Ernest Louis ruled Hesse-Darmstadt from 1678 until his death in 1739, presiding over a court that punched well above its financial weight — he was an enthusiastic patron of music and maintained one of the more expensive orchestras in the German states, a habit that kept the Darmstadt treasury under persistent strain. Small billon issues like this kreuzer were the workhorses of everyday commerce precisely because the landgraviate lacked the silver resources to sustain a robust groschen coinage.