1 Pfennig - Charles I

Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's copper pfennig coinage of this period served the grinding day-to-day commerce of a mid-sized German principality navigating the turbulent politics of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles I — Karl I — ruled from 1735 until his death in 1780, one of the longer reigns among the Welf dynasty's branch rulers, and the span of this issue reflects that continuity. The Duchy's minting activity at Zellerfeld, its primary copper-striking facility, was heavily tied to the output of the Harz mountain mining operations that underpinned much of Brunswick's fiscal base.