3 Kreuzers - John Christian Brieg

Liegnitz-Brieg's 1622 output falls squarely within the Kipper und Wipperzeit — the currency crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623, when mints across the German states debased their coinage aggressively to profit from the difference between face value and metal content. Small silver multiples of the Kreuzer were particularly vulnerable to this debasement, and many issues from this period contain far less fine silver than nominal standards required. John Christian ruled Brieg from 1609 until his death in 1639, navigating the opening years of the Thirty Years' War while maintaining a mint that produced heavily in these fractional denominations.