2 Groschen - Frederick William

Frederick William — the "Great Elector" — inherited Brandenburg-Prussia in 1640 with its treasury gutted and its territories occupied by foreign armies deep into the Thirty Years' War. By the time this groschen was struck, the Peace of Westphalia had been signed and he was methodically rebuilding both the economy and a standing army, the latter funded in no small part by new taxation that required a reliable circulating coinage. The 1650s issues reflect that reconstruction effort directly.

Bahrf#155 distinguishes several die variants across this decade-long emission.