24 Kipper Kreuzers - Charles the Posthumous

The "Kipper und Wipper" period (roughly 1619–1623) was one of the most destructive monetary crises in Central European history, driven by princes and ecclesiastical lords deliberately debasing their coinage to exploit fixed exchange rates — minting vastly overvalued small silver pieces, flooding neighboring territories with them, then withdrawing good coin in return. The Bishopric of Brixen, a prince-bishopric wedged in the South Tyrolean Alps, participated alongside dozens of other Imperial estates.

Charles of Austria, "the Posthumous," was born four months after his father Maximilian II died — hence the epithet. He ruled as Bishop of Brixen from 1613 until his death in 1624, placing this issue squarely within the crisis years.