1 Kreuzer - Frederick William IV

Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen were absorbed into Prussia in 1850 following the abdication of their respective princes amid the revolutionary pressures of 1848–49. This kreuzer, struck two years after that annexation, was issued for the newly acquired southern territories where kreuzer-based accounting remained entrenched — Prussian thaler coinage meant little to populations accustomed to the South German monetary system. The copper-nickel-zinc alloy was an early experiment in base-metal coinage that Prussia did not pursue broadly, making this issue something of an administrative curiosity rather than a mainstream type.