12 Kreuzer

The 12 Kreuzer belongs to the Kipper und Wipperzeit — the currency debasement crisis of 1618–1623 that swept the Holy Roman Empire during the opening years of the Thirty Years' War. Minor German territorial lords, Hohnstein among them, exploited the breakdown of imperial monetary oversight to strike debased coins at nominally full face value, then spent them into neighboring territories before the fraud caught up. Hohnstein's output from this period is poorly documented, which is precisely why the Slg. Kraaz specimen carries cataloging weight.