3 Pfennig - Christian Ernest and Francis Josias

Christian Ernest died in November 1745, but this joint coinage predates that — it was struck during the co-regency that followed the death of their father Franz Josias's guardianship arrangements, reflecting the complicated succession politics of a duchy that had been partitioned and reunited multiple times across the previous century. Billon issues at this weight were essentially fiduciary coinage, their silver content too thin to matter, produced to satisfy small-denomination demand in a territory too modest to sustain a full minting programme for long.