4 Kreuzers - Ernest Frederick III

Saxe-Hildburghausen was among the smallest and most financially precarious of the Ernestine duchies, perpetually reliant on subsidies from the Holy Roman Emperor and various foreign courts. Ernest Frederick III reigned over a territory so indebted that in 1769 — just six years after this coin was struck — the duchy was placed under imperial administration to satisfy its creditors. Billon issues like this one were often the practical ceiling of what such a mint could economically produce in silver-bearing coinage.