1 Schilling Courant - Frederick II

Frederick II ruled Mecklenburg-Schwerin during a period when the small north German states were grinding through the financial aftermath of the Seven Years' War. Billon coinage of this fineness — barely more than a third silver — was the practical solution for a duchy whose fiscal reserves had been badly strained by the conflict and its attendant troop levies. These petty denominations circulated hard in market towns along the Baltic coast, and survivors in any meaningful condition are rarer than the long date range suggests.