4 Pfennigs - Wolfgang William Kipper

Wolfgang Wilhelm of Palatinate-Neuburg struck these copper 4-Pfennig pieces during the Kipper- und Wipperzeit, the catastrophic currency debasement crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623. Opportunistic rulers and mint operators across the Empire were flooding circulation with underweight, debased coinage — clipping good silver, issuing copper dressed as billon, and pocketing the seigniorage difference. Wolfgang Wilhelm, a recent Catholic convert who needed funds to consolidate his territories amid the opening chaos of the Thirty Years' War, was among the more aggressive participants.

The crisis collapsed under its own weight by 1623 when the debased coins became so distrusted that markets simply refused them.