12 Kreuzer - Frederick Ulrich Kipper

Frederick Ulrich's 12 Kreuzer belongs to the notorious Kipper und Wipper period of 1619–1623, one of the most catastrophic currency debasements in European history. Dozens of petty German princes — Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel among them — raced to mint debased small-denomination coins, collect sound currency in exchange, and export the bullion profit before neighboring territories caught on. The scheme was effectively a competitive race to the bottom, and it worked until it didn't: by 1623 the flood of worthless Kipper coins had triggered wage collapses, food riots, and the financial ruin of ordinary households across the Holy Roman Empire.

Frederick Ulrich himself was a weak ruler whose reign was marked by debt and administrative dysfunction — conditions that made Kipper minting politically irresistible.