3 Pfennig - Christian William of Brandenburg Kipper

Issued during the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the catastrophic currency debasement crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623 — this piece is a product of deliberate monetary fraud at the territorial level. Princes and bishops alike debased their billon coinage to exploit fixed exchange rates with neighboring states, flooding the Empire with underweight small change before the scheme collapsed. Christian William of Brandenburg, Administrator of Magdeburg at the time, was among the ecclesiastical rulers who participated.

Christian William's tenure ended badly. He converted to Lutheranism, lost the administratorship, and was later captured at the Battle of Dessau Bridge in 1626.