Mayor's penny

Mayor's penny in honor of Nicolaus Schuback († July 28, 1783 ) (obverse)

Mayor's pfennig in honor of Nicolaus Schuback († July 28, 1783) (reverse)

A mayor's penny is a small silver coin that was created in Hamburg after the death of a Hamburg mayor on the occasion of the burial and is provided with the coat of arms and the life and official dates of the deceased mayor .

history

It has been the custom in Hamburg for a long time at the funeral of a mayor to distribute small coins worth a quarter thaler among the students who attended the corpse and perhaps also to the other people on the funeral procession. The family of the mayor Johann Schrött, who died in 1676, first came up with the idea of ​​having their own coin minted for this purpose. On the next few occasions, however, one could not make up her mind to follow the example, but instead handed out twelve schillings again . It was not until 1697, when the mayor Johann Schulte died, that his family had his own penny minted again. After that, this tradition was continued. At first they contented themselves with hitting them with a weight of 1/2 a loth , made of thalersilver; in later times, however, they were made of fine silver and the weight varied depending on whether the family of the deceased was more or less affluent or generous. Several mayor's pennies have grown into valuable medals and there are individual cases in which several coins of different weights and sizes were produced at the same time. The smaller ones were z. B. to the students, the larger ones to people of higher rank.

In more recent times, the big, solemn corpses escorts were abandoned, so the distribution among the pupils and other followers ceased and they were content to distribute the so-called pennies among the members of the Hamburg Senate , the senior elders and the relatives and friends of the deceased . The mayors received gold specimens, which is why they appear now and then, albeit very rarely. As a rule, they contain the family coat of arms of the deceased with his name, date of birth, election and death and on the back emblems or allusions to the character and merits of the same, in more recent times one has often put his bust on it.

List of mayor's pennies

see also: List of Hamburg mayors

1676 Johann Schrötteringk 1687 Dieterich Möller (twelve schilling piece) 1697 Johann Schulte 1697 Johann Diedrich Schaffshausen 1702 Hieronymus Hartwig Möller 1703 Julius Surland 1704 Joachim Lemmermann 1709 Peter von Lengerke 1712 Paul Paulsen 1716 Lucas von Bostel 1717 Petrus Luetkens 1720 Bernhard Matfeld 1722 Ludwig Becceler 1723 Gerhard Schröder 1728 Hinrich Diederich Wiese 1729 Hans Jacob Faber 1732 Garlieb Sillem 1739 Daniel Stockfleth 1741 Joh. Hermann Luis 1742 Rütger Rulant 1743 Johann Anderson 1749 Nicolaus Stampeel 1750 Clemens Samuel von Lipstorp 1751 Martin Lucas Schele 1751 Lucas von Spreckelsen 1754 Conrad Widow

1765 Lucas Corthum 1774 Martin Hieronymus Schele 1778 Johannes Schlueter 1780 Peter Greve 1781 Vincent Rumpff 1783 Nicolaus Schuback 1784 Frans Doormann 1786 Albert Schulte 1788 Johann Luis 1790 Johann Anderson 1798 Martin Dorner 1800 Jacob Albrecht von Sienen 1801 Franz Anton Wagener 1802 Peter Hinrich Widow 1807 Johann Adolph Poppe 1816 Daniel Lienau 1820 Friedrich von Graffen 1821 Christian Matthias Schröder 1829 Johann Daniel Koch 1831 Wilhelm Amsinck 1834 Johann Arnold Heise 1835 Martin Garlieb Sillem 1835 Martin Hieronymus Schrötteringk 1842 Amandus Augustus Abendroth 1844 David Schlueter 1851 Christian Daniel Benecke

literature

• Franklin Kopitzsch , Daniel Tilgner (Ed.): Hamburg-Lexikon. 2nd revised edition. Zeise, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-9805687-9-2 .
• Johann Paul Langermann: Hamburg coins and medals pleasure or illustration and description of Hamburg coins and medals . Hamburg 1753.
• Association for Hamburg History (Hrsg.): Hamburg coins and medals. 3 volumes. Meißner, Hamburg 1850–1876.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Images of the mayor's penny of Peter von Lengerke