6 Gröscher - Frederick II Seven Years' War

Frederick II deliberately debased Prussian and Saxon coinage throughout the Seven Years' War, operating captured Saxon mints at Dresden and Leipzig to flood enemy territories with underweight silver. The 1763 six-Groschen pieces belong to the final phase of this policy — struck in the war's last year as Prussia scrambled to meet military payroll obligations while negotiating the Peace of Hubertusburg. The debasement was severe enough that contemporaries called these coins "Ephraimiten," a slur referencing Veitel Heine Ephraim, the Berlin mint contractor who managed the scheme.