3 Pfennig - Frederick August II

Frederick August II ruled Saxony while simultaneously holding the Polish throne as Augustus III, a dual role that stretched Saxon finances considerably — particularly through the costs of the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War buildup. Small billon pfennig issues like this one were the workhorses of everyday Saxon commerce, struck in enormous quantities at the Dresden and Freiberg mints across the two-decade span of this type. The Freiberg mint, fueled by the silver output of the Erzgebirge mining region, gave Saxony unusual capacity for sustained base-metal coinage even as the state's larger silver issues were being debased.