6 Heller - Frederick II

Hesse-Cassel's finances in 1770 were heavily shaped by the landgrave's practice of subsidizing troops to foreign powers — most notoriously to Britain for service in the American colonies a few years later. Small billon issues like this one kept petty commerce moving while silver was funneled into those arrangements. The heller denominations saw heavy use among the lowest economic strata and rarely survived in collectible condition.