Beard egg

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Elector Friedrich III. the sage, Johann and Duke Georg, beard groschen 1492, Mmz. Shamrock, Zwickau and Schneeberg Mints (Krug 1878)

Beard groschen is the name of the groschen with the bearded bust of Frederick III, which was minted from 1492 to 1493 in an edition of 205,000 in the Zwickau and Schneeberg mints . the sage (1468-1525). The groschen are the first Saxon coins with a portrait of the regent.

Coin history

The coins of the groschen currency with the name beard groschen initially let the Ernestine Elector Friedrich III. Beat (the wise man) alone with his brother Johann . After that, the groschen are a joint coinage of Frederick III with his brother Johann and the Albertine Duke George the Bearded (1500–1539).

Georg, who appears for Duke Albrecht (the brave) (1464 / 85–1500) in the transcription of the groschen, represented his father when he was in West Friesland as a result of his warlike undertakings . The later minted groschen with the year 1493 are again the sole minting of the Ernestines, the elector with his brother.

The name bearded groschen was mentioned as early as 1493 in the list of tastings from the Leipzig Easter market under Schneeberg . The groschen were minted not only in Zwickau , but also in Schneeberg despite the coin inscription "ZWIGKAV" or something similar. The coinage took place under the mint master Augustin Horn with his mint master's mark shamrock . He was mint master in the mints of Zwickau, Schneeberg, Langensalza and Colditz . He used his mint master's mark in all four mints.

The bearded groschen from 1492 are the first coins in Saxon mint history to feature a portrait of the regent. At the same time, the title Elector appears in abbreviated form for the first time . When the Zwickau Mint closed in 1493, the minting of these groschen also ended. Only in the years 1530/1533 during the Saxon mint separation and then in 1621/1623 in the Kipper and Wipper period was minting again temporarily in Zwickau.

Coin issuance

At the coin conference on July 13, 1490 in Oschatz , it was agreed that the value ratio of 20 pointed groschen to one gold guilder can no longer be maintained. In the same year the number of pointed groschen per Rhenish guilder was increased from 20 to 21 pieces and half sword groschen from 40 to 42 pieces (see Meissnian guilder ). The new beard groschen were spread as follows from 1492:

Beard groschen were struck to 90 pieces from the 8  solder (= 0.500 f.) Erfurt mint mark (235.4011 g up to 1500).

The definition of the ratio of 1:21 between gold guilders and groschen was also retained with the introduction of large silver coins, the silver guilders ( thalers ). (See Saxon coin separation / coin separation from 1530 to 1533 - table of the forms according to the coinage system from 1500. )

Preparation of the large silver currency

The preparation for the introduction of the large silver currency began with the coin day in Zeitz 1490. The first result was the beard groschen. For the Rhenish gold gulden, a silver equivalent of 27.464 g was set, which went eight times to the 15 lot (937.5 ‰) mark of fine silver. After this monetary standard that shaped Wettiner ten years later silver guilders , the first Saxon thaler coins. The enormous silver production in the Erzgebirge mines made it possible to establish a permanent relationship between the silver currency and the gold currency and ultimately to replace it to a large extent.

According to Paul Arnold, the introduction of the large silver currency took about ten years:

The introduction of the large silver currency therefore required well thought-out preparation, which took about ten years to complete. It began on the Münztag zu Zeitz on August 9, 1490, when, in view of the further decline in the gold content of the Rhenish gold gulden and the simultaneous rise in the gold price, the Erfurt mark, the basic coin weight in Saxony, was adjusted to the Cologne mark to 233.855 g. […] The next step was to meet the change requirements. First of all, the small denominations had to be minted in sufficient quantities before the silver guilder (thaler) could be introduced as the keystone of the entire coin system, so to speak.

The beard groschen were of the same value as the Schneeberger interest groschen that had been paid out from 1496 . They can therefore often be found under the coin name "Zinsgroschen".

The interest penny served to prepare the large silver currency.

Coin image and inscription

The front of the penny shows the bearded bust of the elector in regalia with a sword shouldered to the right. In the legend there are four coats of arms. On the back you can see the crowned helmet with the Saxon ornament between the divided year and the mint master's mark clover leaf. The coins, which are rare today, are mostly weakly minted.

The die cutter of the first silver gulden minted in Annaberg / Frohnau and probably also in Wittenberg in 1500 , the so-called Klappmützentaler , was based on the front of this groschen, also what the distribution of the four coats of arms (Kur, Saxony , Thuringia and Meißen ) in the Transcription concerns.

The inscription of the sole coinage (1492/1493) of the Ernestiner Friedrich III. with his brother Johann reads (possibly with small deviations - see KRUG):

  • Front: FRID (ericus) .E – L (e) C (tor) .IO (hannes): - DVC (e) S: –SAXO (niae)
    • Translation: Friedrich, Elector and Johann, Dukes of Saxony
  • Back: GROSSVS.NOVVS.ZWIGKAV (iensis)
    • Translation: New Zwickauer Groschen

The inscription of the coin shown here, the joint issue (1492) of Frederick III. with his brother Johann and the Albertine Duke Georg reads:

  • Front: FRID (ericus): E (lector) -: I (ohannes) .GE (o) R (gius) –DVC (e) SS – A – XO (n) I (ae)
    • Translation: Friedrich, Elector, Johann and Georg, Dukes of Saxony
  • Back: GROSSVS.NOVVS.ZWIGKAV (iensis)
    • Translation: New Zwickauer Groschen

See also

literature

  • Walther Haupt : Sächsische Münzkunde , Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974.
  • Gerhard Krug: The Meissnian-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 , Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974.
  • Paul Arnold: The Saxon Thaler Currency from 1500 to 1763 , in: Swiss Numismatic Rundschau, Volume 59, 1980.
  • Tristan Weber: The Saxon coinage from 1500 to 1571: A quantitative study , Edition M & S, Münzen und Sammeln, Regenstauf 2010, ISBN 978-3-86646-827-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde , p. 89
  2. ↑ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338-1500 , p. 119
  3. ↑ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 , p. 102, note 495
  4. ↑ mcsearch.info: Friedrich III., Johann and Georg, the deputy Albrecht (1492–1493), beard groschen 1492. Half-length portrait in spa regalia and with shouldered Kurschwert to the right. The beard groschen from 1492 are the first Saxon coins with the portrait of the regent.
  5. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde , p. 88
  6. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 , p. 104
  7. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338-1500 p. 101
  8. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde , p. 89
  9. ^ Paul Arnold: The Saxon thaler currency from 1500 to 1763
  10. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde , p. 89
  11. ^ Paul Arnold: The Saxon Thaler Currency from 1500 to 1763 , pp. 54/55
  12. ↑ Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexikon Numismatics , Berlin 1976 (see Zinsgroschen - Zwickauer Zinsgroschen)
  13. ↑ Friedrich von Schrötter (ed.), With N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer, J. Wilcke: Dictionary of Coin Studies , de Gruyter, Berlin 1970 (reprint of the original edition from 1930). (See interest groschen. The beard groschen are recorded as Zwickau interest groschen ( courage groschen , medium groschen ).)
  14. ^ Paul Arnold: The Saxon Thaler Currency from 1500 to 1763 , p. 55
  15. ^ Tristan Weber: The Saxon coinage from 1500 to 1571: A quantitative study , Gietl Verlag 2010, p. 9
  16. ↑ Example KRUG No. 1841
  17. ↑ See KRUG No. 1878