12 Kreuzer - Frederick Ulrich Kipper

Frederick Ulrich's 12 Kreuzer belongs to the Kipper und Wipperzeit — the "clipping and see-sawing" inflation crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623. Territorial mints, including Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's, debased their silver coinage aggressively, issuing vastly overvalued pieces to fund expenditures while offloading the losses onto neighboring states and ordinary commerce. The timing coincides almost exactly with the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, which both accelerated the monetary chaos and provided the political cover for it.

Frederick Ulrich himself was a notably weak ruler, his administration dominated by competing noble factions. The mint policy during these years was essentially predatory.