Anhalt-Köthen was among the smallest and most financially strained of the German principalities, and its billon pfennig issues of the mid-eighteenth century reflect a treasury perpetually short of silver. August Louis ruled from 1728 until his death in 1755, leaving no legitimate heir — the principality subsequently passed to Anhalt-Bernburg. Coins struck in his final years are accordingly scarce by attrition rather than low mintage, the surviving population thinned by a line that simply ended.
Anhalt-Köthen was among the smallest and most financially strained of the German principalities, and its billon pfennig issues of the mid-eighteenth century reflect a treasury perpetually short of silver. August Louis ruled from 1728 until his death in 1755, leaving no legitimate heir — the principality subsequently passed to Anhalt-Bernburg. Coins struck in his final years are accordingly scarce by attrition rather than low mintage, the surviving population thinned by a line that simply ended.