Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
3 Kreuzers - Frederick Ulrich Kipper
| Issuer | Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Principality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1620 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Within a beaded inner circle, the rampant Brunswick lion faces left, rendered in a vigorous, somewhat crude hammered style typical of Kipper-period emergency coinage. The beast is depicted with characteristic curled tail and mane, its body filling the inner field. A peripheral legend in Latin characters surrounds the inner circle. The overall strike is irregular, as expected of this wartime issue. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A crowned nimbate imperial double-headed eagle occupies the central field, its wings spread in heraldic display. On the eagle's breast, an orb bears the denomination numeral '3', identifying this as a 3 Kreuzer piece. A partial legend citing the ruler's name and titles — FRED(ericus) II D(ei) G(ratia) — runs around the periphery, though the inscription is partially legible due to the irregular hammered flan and off-center strike characteristic of Kipper coinage. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Frederick Ulrich's 3 Kreuzer belongs to the Kipper und Wipper crisis of 1619–1623, arguably the most catastrophic currency debasement in German history before the twentieth century. Territorial mints across the Holy Roman Empire — Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel among them — raced to produce debased small coinage, exchanging it for full-weight silver before neighboring states could react. The profit motive was explicit: mint lessees paid the duke for the right to operate and pocketed the difference between face value and bullion cost.
Frederick Ulrich himself was a weak ruler, and the Kipper operation at his mints was largely driven by financial officials rather than ducal initiative. The crisis collapsed when too many states simultaneously refused the coins.