1 Pfennig - John Frederick Charles of Ostein

Erfurt occupied an unusual constitutional position during these years — formally under the jurisdiction of the Elector of Mainz, with John Frederick Charles von Ostein serving as Archbishop-Elector from 1743 until his death in 1763. The city's coinage therefore reflects ecclesiastical rather than secular authority, a distinction that mattered considerably in mid-18th century imperial politics. These small copper pieces were struck across nearly six years of the Seven Years' War, when metal supplies and minting priorities across the German states were routinely disrupted by Prussian military campaigns in the surrounding region.