Christian Friedrich Goedeking

Christian Friedrich Goedeking (also Christian Friedrich Gödeking ) (born September 10, 1770 in Westerkappeln , † March 23, 1851 in Berlin ) was a Prussian general mint director.

Life

Christian Friedrich Goedeking was the eldest son and the third of eight children of the businessman Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Goedeking (1732–1794) and his wife Sophie Elisabeth, daughter of the pastor Marten in Cappeln .

He received his first scientific training from a preacher in his hometown. In 1788 he began studying theology at the Lingen (Ems) Theological College because his father had decided that he should become a clergyman. In October of the same year he went to the University of Halle after his father allowed him to pursue cameralistic and mathematical studies.

In autumn 1790 he finished his studies and returned home and found a job in the office in Illenbühren near Osnabrück, where he was busy with basic measurements. The nearby coal mines and his geognostic studies aroused his interest in mining and metallurgy. Having won the lottery, he had sufficient financial means to prepare for this subject, and in 1793 he traveled to Berlin to receive training there. The then head of mining, metallurgy and coinage, Minister of State Freiherr Friedrich Anton von Heynitz , was able to convince him to switch to the coin compartment and so he was accepted under an oath on August 17, 1793, before the General Mint Director Johann Friedrich Gentz (1726–1810). He was employed in the two Berlin mints and was given the management of a cashier's post the following year. In July 1795 he was given the post of mint master in the second Berlin mint. He succeeded in introducing significant improvements in coin technology.

In the meantime, the Franconian principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth had come to the Crown of Prussia and, as Ansbach-Bayreuth, were placed under the administration of Minister Karl August von Hardenberg , who planned the restoration of the mint in Schwabach . On the recommendation of Minister von Heinitz, Christian Friedrich Goedeking was appointed mint master and wardein there in spring 1796 . Due to the dilapidated condition and the poor location of the mint, he was given the option to relocate the mint either to Bayreuth or to Ansbach , so he decided in favor of Bayreuth. Because the mint only produced divisional coins , he was able to continue his scientific studies and research. Here he came into closer contact with the upper mountain ridge Alexander von Humboldt, who was employed there at the time , with whom he carried out physical and geognostic experiments and research and with whom he maintained a lasting friendship. Alexander von Humboldt recommended Christian Friedrich Goedeking to the Minister von Hardenberg so that he would also receive technical commissions and mentioned him in an article in the New Journal of Physics .

In 1801, the Minister Theodor von Kretschmann offered him to become director of the mining, minting, factories, trade and construction departments in the Duchy of Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld , but he turned down this offer.

In 1802 the Minister von Hardenberg gave him the overall supervision of road construction in the two former Franconian principalities. In 1804, after the transfer from Ansbach-Bayreuth to Bavaria , he was appointed to the Bavarian War Council of the War and Domain Chamber ; there he was responsible for handling construction matters.

After the French army occupied the Frankish principalities, the mint was closed in 1806 and he was instructed to assist in the district directorate (the highest administrative authority in a district). At the end of 1809 he received an offer from Königsberg to return to Prussian service as mint director in Breslau , whereupon he was dismissed from the French service by the French director of Sienes in November 1809. Together with his wife and four children, he started the journey via Berlin, but the onward journey was delayed there because he was supposed to have a new French-style minting machine built for the intended new coin minting by rings, only he lacked the necessary specialists, so that he had to have all the necessary individual machine parts made with the help of craftsmen and according to his own statements. During this time he received an offer from the Royal Saxon Ministry to go to Warsaw as a mint master , but he declined this offer.

After the general mint director Johann Friedrich Gentz fell ill in the spring of 1810, he took over his duties; when he died in December 1810, he was interim and in early 1812 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. officially appointed General Mint Director. At the same time he was commissioned to reorganize the Prussian mints, which were located in Berlin and Breslau.

When the French army approached Berlin in the spring of 1813, on the orders of the king he went to Silesia with some officials and workers, the stocks of coins and metal and some machines . Before that, the two remaining coin machines in the Berlin mints were made unusable. In Silesia he began to continue the coin production in Glatz and Neisse with the Breslau staff and the equipment.

After the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig , he returned to Berlin and restored the two mints. The introduction of coinage in rings, which was planned as early as 1810 and prevented by the wars, has now been continued. The necessary changes in the minting machinery prompted him to travel to Copenhagen , where the mint was equipped with an English minting machine. In the following year the new coins were put into circulation. At the same time the State Ministry decided to set up a Prussian mint on the Rhine and in 1817 he was commissioned to re-establish the former Jülich-Berg mint in Düsseldorf ; this began its activity on April 9, 1817 and he stayed in Düsseldorf until the summer of 1818. Shortly after his return to Berlin, his wife died.

Christian Friedrich Goedeking was not only concerned with the economic and technical equipment of mints, but also encouraged manufacturers to improve their steel production. A special concern of his was the construction of the Uhlhorn toggle press as a stamping machine, which was later used in almost all mints in Europe. The inventor of this embossing machine, Dietrich Uhlhorn from Grevenbroich , was informed about rotating embossing machines and encouraged to develop his own machines - he then bought the still imperfect machines from the inventor for his mint.

On January 1, 1849, he resigned from his office.

In 1803 Christian Friedrich Goedeking married Henriette († 1818), daughter of the government director Johann Gottlieb Wagner (1748–1796) in Bayreuth. They had seven children together. Of his family, he survived two sons, the younger son of whom emigrated to North America, four daughters and eleven grandchildren. His daughter Auguste married the legal scholar Ernst Adolf Theodor Laspeyres in 1831 .

His nephew Heinrich Christian Kandelhardt (1799–1883), who later succeeded him and was married to two daughters of Christian Friedrich Goedeking, was his main merit in improving the coin tasting system - he advocated the use of analytical methods for silver, and also he has given a more precise way of testing gold.

Act

His special merit was that, through his work in the 19th century, after the withdrawal of the French, a German coin unit could be implemented. A single currency was introduced and money had the same value everywhere. As a link between the Prussian thaler and the southern German gulden , the double thaler he favored was finally launched.

Memberships

Christian Friedrich Goedeking was a member of the Monday Club from 1811 to 1842 .

Awards and honors

In 1836 he received the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th Class, and in 1840 the Order of 3rd Class. On the occasion of his 50th anniversary in office on August 17, 1843, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV awarded him the Order of the Red Eagle 2nd Class with Oak Leaves. The officials of the Prussian mints presented him with a medal with his portrait in gold, silver and bronze as well as a trophy of honor from the workers.

In Westerkappeln, Goedekingstrasse is named after Christian Friedrich Goedeking.

literature

Christian Friedrich Goedeking. In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen . 29th year, 1851, 1st part. Weimar 1853, pp. 246-252. (books.google.de)
Arthur Suhle: Goedeking, Christian Friedrich. In: New German Biography . 6, 1964, p. 512 f. (deutsche-biographie.de)

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Goedeking, Christian Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gödeking, Christian Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Prussian general mint director
DATE OF BIRTH	September 10, 1770
PLACE OF BIRTH	Westerkappeln
DATE OF DEATH	March 23, 1851
Place of death	Berlin

[1] Friedrich Albrecht Carl Gren: New Journal of Physics. (= New Journal of Physics. Volume 4). Johann Barth, Leipzig 1797, p. 136 and p. 139. ( page 136 ) and ( page 139 )

[2] Uta Motschmann: Handbook of Berlin Associations and Societies 1786-1815 . Walter de Gruyter, 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-038093-4 ( google.de [accessed on January 2, 2019]).

[3] Astrid Springer: Famous son of the Westerkappeln community. Retrieved January 4, 2019 .