4 Mariengroschen - August William

August Wilhelm ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1714 until his death in 1731, a reign spent largely navigating the financial and political aftershocks of the Great Northern War, which had destabilized trade routes and coinage across the north German states. The Mariengroschen — named for the Virgin Mary and rooted in a denominational tradition dating back to the late fourteenth century in the Harz region — was the workhorse small silver of Lower Saxony for three centuries. By August Wilhelm's time it had become almost anachronistic, but the denomination persisted because local market transactions simply demanded it.