1 Pfennig - Maximilian Ulrich

Rietberg was a tiny imperial county in Westphalia, passed through a succession of noble houses whose financial resources rarely matched their political pretensions. By 1703, the county had come under the Kaunitz family — Austrian imperial nobility — who held it until the Napoleonic reorganization swept the smaller German territories out of existence. Copper pfennig issues like this one were essentially fiduciary stopgaps, struck because the county lacked the silver reserves to service everyday exchange.

Maximilian Ulrich von Kaunitz held Rietberg from 1655 until his death in 1703 — the same year this piece was struck.