Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Schilling - Frederick William II
| Issuer | Prussia, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.69 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Royal cipher of Frederick William II rendered as an elaborate interlaced monogram of the letters F and W surmounted by the Prussian royal crown. The crowned cypher occupies the central field with no surrounding legend, the coin being anepigraphic on this face. The monogram is executed in a flowing Baroque style with ornate flourishes and intertwining elements characteristic of late 18th-century Prussian coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | None |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Frederick William II inherited Prussian finances badly strained by Frederick the Great's Seven Years' War expenditures, and the small billon schilling issues of his reign reflect ongoing pressure to minimize silver content in subsidiary coinage. At .118 fineness, these sit barely above copper token territory — a deliberate policy rather than a debasement scandal, quietly normalized across the smaller denominations while full silver thalers maintained their standard.
The 1788 date falls just two years into his reign, before the costly Russo-Swedish and Polish entanglements of the early 1790s further complicated Prussian monetary management.