Pfennig - Thomas Franz

The Lords of Reichenau held minting rights as a survival of medieval privilege well into the eighteenth century, by which point such small territorial coinages had become nearly anachronistic against the backdrop of centralizing Habsburg monetary administration. Thomas Franz, Count of Rost, exercised that right through the 1720s and 1730s, producing pfennigs in billon so debased and light that their bullion value was essentially nil from the moment of striking.

At 0.23 g, these pieces were among the smallest fiduciary coins in circulation anywhere in the Holy Roman Empire.