Coin for Rethwish

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The Mint of Rethwisch was a mint of a branch line of the Dukes of Holstein that worked in the 18th century and was located in the brief residence of Rethwisch ( Stormarn district ) .

history

The mint was erected in the former residential palace of the Rethwisch branch line of the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön. With the death of the client's son in 1729, the Rethwian line died out and the castle passed to the Plön relatives. The first reports about the use of the castle for minting coins were already made during this period. During the Seven Years' War , inferior war money was produced for Hamburg and Prussian interests (see below).

In 1761, with the extinction of the Plöner Line, the castle that houses the mint went to the Danish king in accordance with the contract. Large parts of the mint's inventory were sold in 1771/2.

For a short time from 1769–1770 the mint was operated as a branch of the mint in Copenhagen. The Royal Mint in Altona was not yet completed at that time. However, since the Danish state was already buying a lot of silver via Hamburg at that time, it made sense to put a nearby mint into operation as soon as possible. The dies were made by Bauert in Copenhagen and then used in Rethwisch. The mint master was Hans Schierven Knoph, whose nephew of the same name later worked in Hamburg for a long time. When the Altona Mint went into operation, operations in Rethwisch were finally shut down.

The castle and mint were demolished in the 1770s and 1780s due to dilapidation.

Hedge coin in the Seven Years War

In the Seven Years' War, Prussia and its allies (Hanover, England) faced Saxony and Austria (i.e. the German emperor at the time) and France. At the beginning of the war the palace and mint belonged to Duke Friedrich Karl von Holstein-Plön . At that time the Mint in Rethwisch was operated as a hedge coin , which was supposed to bring in an illegitimate treasure trove (profit) for its operator through the production of inferior coins . Partly private interests in Hamburg and Berlin benefited from these activities, and partly the Prussian state.

Towards the end of the war Heinrich Carl Schimmelmann tried to get the coin. At the beginning of 1761, Schimmelmann was a Prussian army supplier and a precious metal and coin dealer based in Hamburg . He was one of the most economically active personalities of the time. Because of his involvement in the slave trade , he is controversial today. Schimmelmann's aim was to compete with the then Prussian monopoly for coinage, the Berlin bankers Ephraim and Itzig , by placing inferior foreign coins on the market (see also "Third Kipper and Wipper Period , Ephraimiten ). However, Schimmelmann did not become a coin entrepreneur himself, but an employee of the befriended Hamburg banking and trading company of Abel Seyler and Johann Tillemann .

Coin coins and parts of the coin from Anhalt-Zerbst were minted . A permit from Anhalt-Zerbst had been purchased for the use of such stamps. Four transports of coins went at times a week via Hamburg to Central Germany. From January 12, 1761 to February 19 alone, Seyler and Tillmann delivered coins with a face value of over 187,000 thalers to their customers.

In 1761 the coin fell back to the Danish king. Ephraim paid the king 250,000 thalers to close the coin. This was part of a concerted effort to keep foreign inferior money out of the Prussian-controlled areas. Mints of neighboring principalities were either leased or closed by Frederick II. In 1762, Ephraim and Itzig leased the coin themselves.

In 1761/62 Georg Anton Schröder ( Mmz. GAS) was mint master in Rethwisch.

Minted coins

Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön

Kingdom of Denmark

An overview of the speciestaler minted in Rethwisch is given on the pages of the Danish State Mint. Mint master was Hans Schierven Knoph.

  • 1 Speciedaler (1769), Christian VII. Monogram, Norwegian coat of arms, mint master mark HSK (Hede 6)
  • 1 Speciedaler (1769), Christian VII. Portrait, Danish "Kabinettswappen", mint master's mark HSK (Hede 7)

1/2 and 1/4 thaler pieces were also minted with this motif.

  • 1 Speciedaler (1769), Christian VII. Monogram, Danish "Kabinettswappen", mint master mark HSK (Davenport 1306, Hede 8)

Kingdom of Prussia

  • 1⁄24 Taler (1763), mint mark "G" (Olding 352)
  • 1⁄48 Taler (1763), mint mark "G" (Olding 353) ( example image )

The two types of coins with the year 1763 and the mint mark "G" were not minted in Stettin, but presumably in the Schwerin and Rethwisch mints.

Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst

In addition to - inferior - taler pieces, dividing coins were also issued. Although stamps with the year 1758 were also used, the minting took place from 1761.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bad Oldesloe DB 24. (No longer available online.) AG Pre- and Early History Stormarn, archived from the original on December 25, 2013 ; Retrieved December 26, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vorgeschichte-stormarn.de
  2. ↑ From the finding aids. (No longer available online.) AG Pre- and Early History Stormarn, archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; Retrieved December 26, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vorgeschichte-stormarn.de
  3. ↑ a b Rethwisch. In: Dansk Mønt. Retrieved December 26, 2013 (Danish).
  4. ↑ a b Peter Flensburg: Chr. VII's Rethwisch specier. In: Dansk Mønt. Frederiksborg Amts Avis, September 5, 1987, accessed December 26, 2013 (Danish).
  5. ↑ Konrad Schneider (1985) Studies on precious metal smelting and the art of tasting in Hamburg. Journal of the Association for Hamburg History 71: 1-44.
  6. ^ A b c Konrad Schneider (1983) On the money market in Hamburg at the time of the Seven Years' War. Journal of the Association for Hamburg History 69: 62-82
  7. ^ Rolf-Herbert Krüger (1989) The Ephraim-Palais in Berlin - A contribution to Prussian cultural history. Publishing house for construction, Berlin. P. 17 (there occupied by I. Mittenzwei (1980) Friedrich II. Von Preußen. Berlin, p. 309)
  8. ^ Leonard Forrer (1904) Biographical dictionary of medallists: coin, gem, and sealengravers, mint-masters, & c., Ancient and modern, with references to their works BC 500-AD 1900. Spink & Son, London.
  9. ^ Manfred Olding (2006) The coins of Frederick the Great. H. Gietel Verlag & Publication Service, Regenstauf. 2nd, revised and expanded edition.