2 Mariengroschen - Ferdinand Albert II

Ferdinand Albert II ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel for less than three years before his death in 1735 — the same year this piece was struck. He had spent much of his earlier life as a military commander in imperial service, including at the disastrous Battle of Mollwitz, and the duchy's coinage output during his reign was correspondingly thin. The Mariengroschen, a denomination with roots in the Harz mining economy of the fourteenth century, persisted in Lower Saxon territories long after most German states had rationalised their small silver series.