World Coins Chat: German States - Prussia

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Prussia (Königreich Preußen/Preussen) was a German state that existed from 1525 to 1947 in various forms. It was primarily located in what is today Eastern Germany, Poland, Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast exclave, and small parts of Lithuania and Czechia.


(left) State Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1892-1918); (right) greater Prussian coat of arms (1866-1918)

History

The first mention of the name "Prussia" comes from the high Middle Ages, referring to a Baltic Tribe that lived in the area that is today the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. They unsuccessfully revolted against the Teutonic Knights, German crusaders sent to Christianise the pagan tribes of the Baltic regions in the 13th century. For several centuries the region remained under the rule of the Teutonic Knights, until in 1525 when the Knights' Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach secularised his lands as the Duchy of Prussia in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The little Duchy then, in 1618 entered into a personal union with the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and it saw involvement in various European wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as the Thirty Years War (1618-48) where it switched sides three times.


Brandenburg-Prussia (red) within the Holy Roman Empire (yellow); note how Brandenburg is within the HRE, and physically separated from Prussia, which is outside the HRE. Yet they shared the same monarch (a personal union) from 1618 to 1701, like Hanover and Great Britain from 1714 to 1837.

The second half of the 17th century saw the potential for Brandenburg-Prussia to become a local power as it centralised under elector Friedrich Wilhelm, allowing it to establish a standing army that won several major victories. The state's population grew with its policy of accepting Protestant refugees from other parts of Europe; it even had some short-lived colonies on the West African coast. In 1701 the part of Prussia, being outside the Holy Roman Empire was elevated to a Kingdom, integrating within it the HRE state (and the other Hohenzollern dominion) of Brandenburg. From then on both patches of land ruled by the Hohenzollerns were referred to as simply "Prussia". Military victories in the Great Northern War (1700-21) against Sweden expanded its territory and power; but it took a defeat of Hapsburg Austria in the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48) and acquisition of Silesia for the ascendant kingdom to be considered a great power. However, in 1756 another war with Austria (the Seven Years War) began over Saxony. Despite being heavily outnumbered on the continent, against France and Russia, King Friedrich II "The Great" demonstrated his military skills and avoided defeat until Russia left the war (when a protégé of his, Peter III became Tsar). The Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War in 1763 further highlighted Prussia's newfound status in Europe, bankrupting France and humiliating Habsburg Austria. Prussia was also able to physically unite its territories with its acquisitions in the First, Second and Third Partitions of Poland (1772, 1791 and 1795), which ended the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.


Prussia in 1800; Green is for territories acquired in the 1st Polish Partition (1772) and Blue in the 3rd (1795).

Throughout this rise to power, Prussia had remained an absolute monarchy under the Hohenzollerns, who were alarmed when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. After Louis XVI of France was deposed by the National Assembly in 1792, Prussia, along with many other conservative monarchies in Europe, declared war on the new French Republic. The Prussian army, with its new formidable reputation gained over the last century of wars, was however defeated at Valmy, and by 1795 a peace had been signed. However, following the rise of Napoleon, the establishment of his French Empire (1804) and his sound military defeat of the Austrian Empire at Austerlitz (1805), Prussia, fearing more French expansion declared war on France with British and Russian support the following year. Friedrich Wilhelm III, Prussia's new king was less militarily gifted than his famous predecessor, and thus Prussia was quickly crushed at the battles of Iéna and Auerstadt (1806). The 1807 Treaties of Tilsit stripped Prussia of much of its recently gained land, re-establishing a Polish state called the Duchy of Warsaw, a French satellite.


French troops entering Berlin, during the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-07). This war also resulted in Napoleon's dissolution of the millennium old Holy Roman Empire, reorganising it into the friendly Confederation of the Rhine.

Following its defeat by Napoleonic France, Prussia engaged in military and administrative reforms, but was forced to join Napoleon's Continental System and became subjugated to a France that dominated Europe up to the Vistula. It contributed troops to Napoleon's disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia; but when it became clear that the Grande Armée had been beaten, Prussia (and other German states similarly subjugated by Napoleon, like Austria and Saxony) promptly switched sides and declared war on France in the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812-14). Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Leipzig (1813), and by May 1814, Prussian horses were "being watered in the Seine". Napoleon abdicated to Elba after the Coalition entered Paris, and the Congress of Vienna opened to negotiate the post-war world. However, Napoleon's escape triggered the War of the Seventh Coalition (1815), a short-lived campaign which ultimately saw his final defeat by British, Dutch and Prussian forces at Waterloo.


Meeting of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Franz I of Austria and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia after Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig, 1813.

The Congress of Vienna redrew the boundaries of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, establishing a new German Confederation of 39 states to replace the HRE. Prussia and Austria, the two strongest states in the Confederation, shared influence amongst the smaller states; with Prussia annexing large sections of the Rhineland to its territory; and as time went by, Prussia established links with the smaller states, such as the Zollverein in 1834, a customs union amongst the German states, and a series of road, rail and canal links that increased trade and commerce in the region. The early-mid 19th century was a time of increasing liberalism and nationalism, seeds sown by Napoleon's wars, and the absolutist, reactionary Prussian monarchy rejected most liberal reforms. When the Revolutions of 1848 (the "Springtime of Nations") broke out, the Frankfurt parliament offered the new king Friedrich Wilhelm IV the crown of a unified Germany, but he refused this "crown from the gutter" on the grounds that a liberal constitution was unacceptable to the princes of the smaller states.


The German Confederation after the Congress of Vienna in 1815; note how both Austria and Prussia own additional territories outside the boundaries of the Confederation. Prussia became a constitutional monarchy after the 1848 revolutions.

Nevertheless, as German nationalism grew, in 1849 Prussia and Austria took action against Denmark when it attempted to control the German duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. This war was inconclusive, but fanned the flames of idealist pan-German activists across the Confederation. With the appointment of Otto von Bismarck by newly crowned King Wilhelm I in 1862, German unification accelerated with a solution to the "Danish question" being found with Prussian-Austrian intervention against Denmark in 1864, this time successful. The Austrians contested the end arrangements in Schleswig-Holstein a few years later, providing a casus-belli against them and their allies. This war, known as the Austro-Prussian War (1866) saw the Austrians soundly defeated at Königgratz, with the end result being the end of the 1815 Confederation and Prussian hegemony over the German states that had allied with Austria in the war (Hanover, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, etc.), and the following year Prussia formed a new "North German Confederation", annexing many of the smaller German states that year.


Prussia (or the North German Confederation; Norddeutscher Bund) at its largest pre-unification extent in 1866-71.

This war had effectively tipped the balance of power in Europe, and Austria was now relegated to a minor power; no longer did it have any influence in Germany, and now it reformed into a dual-monarchy (Austria-Hungary; Österreich-Ungarn) and looked to expand in the Balkans instead. France's Napoleon III was drawn into confrontation with Prussia; in 1867 war nearly broke out over Luxembourg. Tensions rose further when a Prussian prince was offered the Spanish throne, but was pressured by France to turn it down. Finally, in 1870, Bismarck provoked France into declaring war by editing the "Ems Telegram" to be much more offensive and then publicising it. The southern German states (Hesse, Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg) joined the war; with the Germans' industrial capability, railway network and military reforms under Helmuth von Moltke, French forces were defeated at the Battle of Sedan, and Napoleon III himself captured. The Prussian army would go on to besiege Paris, until the new French Third Republic signed the Treaty of Frankfurt the following year; the German princes gathered in the Palace of Versailles on the 18th of May 1871 to proclaim the unification of the German Empire; known also as "Kleindeutschland"; a unified Germany excluding German-speaking Austria.


The 1871 Proclamation of the German Empire in the Palace of Versailles as depicted by Anton von Werner (painted 1884).

Following German unification, the Kingdom of Prussia continued to exist within the German Empire as its largest component; with 2/3rds of its land and 3/5ths of its population. The Prussian king also inherited the office of the Emperor (Kaiser) of Germany, and although 24 other German states continued to exist within the new Germany in their pre-unification forms, they answered undisputedly to Berlin, the capital of the new country, an industrial and military giant of the time. Wilhelm I "the Great" died in 1888, and was succeeded by his son Friedrich III, who died in 90 days; thus his own son Wilhelm II became King of Prussia until the German revolutions of 1918 overthrew the monarchies of the German Empire right before the armistice that ended WWI. During the Weimar Republic Prussia remained a "state" in Germany, as the "Free State of Prussia" (Freistaat Preußen); when the NSDAP came to power in 1933, the administrative entity of Prussia effectively ceased to exist and it was divided into Gaue. Prussia was finally dissolved in 1947 by the Allies after the end of WWII, and its territory was divided between West Germany, East Germany, Poland and the USSR.

A more detailed account of post-unification Germany's history can be found here.

Coinage*

The Duchy of Prussia issued coinage in the 16th century; but certainly after entering into personal union with Brandenburg in 1618 it saw circulation of coins minted in Brandenburg, which commonly depicted the Brandenburg eagle and an orb motif. Both coinage systems mentioned above were Reichsthaler-based; from 1750 the "Prussian thaler" was distinct from the Reichsthaler (1/12th a Cologne Mark), as it now had subdivisions of 288 pfennige, or 24 groschen making a thaler (1/14th a Cologne Mark); later on, from 1821, when Prussia's coinage became unified (regions such as Poland had their own coinages for some time) it became 360 pfennige , or 30 [Silber]groschen making a thaler.


Examples of the Prussian thaler worth 1/14th of a Cologne Mark

The Vereinsthaler was introduced in 1857 as a standard monetary unit in the German Confederation, allowing for ease when travelling and establishing a currency union (one was introduced earlier in 1837). From the 1830's to the 1870's, German states issued Vereinsthaler-based coinage; Austria stopped after 1867. The new decimal currency adopted by the German Empire in 1871 was at the rate of 3 mark to a Vereinsthaler, with 10 pfennige coins becoming equivalent to 1 groschen. Thus the pre-decimal coins' names became common nicknames for their post-decimal equivalents, a habit that has persisted until the adoption of the Euro in 2001 by Germany in some older people.


Examples of Vereinsthalers issued by Prussia; these became standard dimensions throughout the German Confederation.

Following German unification, Prussia and some of the other kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies and Free Hanseatic cities within the German Empire continued to mint their own higher-denomination coinage; with decimal issues replacing the last thalers in the mid 1870's. Lower denomination coins, from 1 pfennig to 1 Mark, were ubiquitous without any state-by state variation (other than mintmark); while coins from 2 to 20 Mark usually featured common reverses of the German eagle; and state-specific obverses (usually the state's monarch). Some commemoratives, such as those issued in 1913 for the centennial of the declaration of war against Napoleon by Prussia, deviate from this common trend. After the end of the German monarchies in 1918, German states stopped issuing their own high-denomination coins at all, although the states themselves continued to exist in administrative capacity until 1933 (de facto) and 1947 (de jure).


Examples of the common obverses of high-denomination German Empire coins; the eagle on the left was used until 1890, and the one on the right until 1918.

Duchy of Prussia:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/etats_allemands-39.html#devise4563
Brandenburg-Prussia:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/etats_allemands-9.html#devise6157
Kingdom of Prussia (pre-unification, Prussian thaler):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/etats_allemands-39.html#devise436
Kingdom of Prussia (pre-unification, Vereinsthaler):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/etats_allemands-40.html#devise2025
Kingdom of Prussia (post-unification, Mark):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/etats_allemands-41.html#devise661

*Seriously, this was extremely complicated. I'm still not sure if I've got it right. I don't think I'll do another German state for some time.
Nice write-up of Prussian history! It's amazing how the name of a Baltic (non-German) tribe eventually became a symbol of German power.

On the coinage side, I can offer you my help.
Quote: "CassTaylor"Prussia (Preßen/Pressen) .....

​Hello,

Thank you for this Introduction. I learned some new details. :)
But Prussia is written "Preußen" in German, not "Preßen" ;).
Quote: "Handzumgrus"
Quote
​​Hello,

​Thank you for this Introduction. I learned some new details. :)
​But Prussia is written "Preußen" in German, not "Preßen" ;).
​Danke schön! :`
Corrected.
Quote: "jokinen"​Nice write-up of Prussian history! It's amazing how the name of a Baltic (non-German) tribe eventually became a symbol of German power.

​On the coinage side, I can offer you my help.
​Thank you! :)

The coinage was complicated, yes. I can only imagine kids enduring maths lessons in the days before decimalised currencies became common. To be fair most pre-decimal currencies (e.g. £sd and the Livre Tournois) aren't too hard to comprehend, since they're just based off multiples of 3 rather than those of 5 and 10, but the German thalers and their subdivisions and equivalents to each other (e.g. Reichsthaler, Prussian Thaler, Vereinsthaler, etc.) seem to be made specifically to spite numismatists a few centuries later. :O
Could you do one more favour and replace all 'it's' by 'its'? :-P
Here's a few Prussian coins that I own:




It's a 3 Groschen 1624 from the Duchy of Prussia, a 4 Groschen 1797 and a 1 Schilling 1810.

And here's a series from the Vereinsthaler era, with 1/2, 1 and 2 1/2 Silbergroschen:


And finally some Mark coinage with 3 different portraits of 2 different Kaiser Wilhelms.

Quote: "jokinen"​Could you do one more favour and replace all 'it's' by 'its'? :-P
​Just for you, my friend :`
Some of my Prussian coins:

1861 Prussia 1 Vereinsthaler (Coronation)
Seems to have had something on the back previously. I also have a regular Prussian Vereinsthaler but I can't find my photos of it.


1901 Prussia 2 Marks (Bicentennial)
Unbelievable toning, amazing shades all across the coin. The pictures don't do it justice, I can't decide which side I like more. :love:


1910 Prussia 3 Marks (Berlin University)
My favourite commemorative from post-unification Prussia; probably because of the deviation in design. The raised parts around the rim also bring to mind the cartwheel penny.
Those are pretty amazing coins. You must be quite blessed (or doomed) with a decent budget.
Quote: "jokinen"​Those are pretty amazing coins. You must be quite blessed (or doomed) with a decent budget.
​Er, not really. z|

I used to, yeah but ever since I moved out on my own far more of my expenses have been going to other things, so I now only spend €30-50 per week on coins. :( Maybe sometimes up to €100 if I'm going to a foreign country and I check out their shops or when I want to indulge myself, but real life bites hard financially sometimes.
It was quite interesting to do the research for this one. It made me understand a lot better how German states currencies evolved over time. Hope you enjoy reading it, and perhaps Sophie can incorporate it in her initial post, but I'll leave it up to her.

Some pictures of coins in between will be added soon.

Currency
In most of medieval Europe remnants of the Carolingian monetary standard were in place, whereby 240 Pennies weighed a pound of a silver. In Germany the word for Penny is Pfennig, and Pfennige minted by various mints varied wildly due to debasing or the introduction of new standards.

The monetary systems of Prussia and Brandenburg were not united until 1821, even though they had formed a personal union since 1618. This is why they need to be considered separately.

Prussia - Teutonic Order (1233-1525)
In the 13th century, the Pfennig from Cologne (Kölner Pfennig) circulated widely in the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. It formed the basis of the first Prussian money that was commissioned by the Teutonic Knights in 1233, whereby 5 Prussian Ordenpfennige was equal to 1 Kölner Pfennig.

In 1379 the Hanseatic League, of which many Prussian cities were part of, entered a monetary union on the basis of sterling fineness (.925) silver coins. In Prussia, a silver Schilling was worth 3 Witten or 12 Pfennige. The system was based on the Lübeck Mark which was worth 16 Schillinge.

The Schilling was debased heavily in the 15th century due to wars. In order stabilise its value, the Groschen, already popular in Germany, was introduced to Prussia in 1489 at a rate of 3 Schillinge, with a Schilling now worth 6 Pfennige instead of 12. This made the Polish and Prussian Groschen worth 18 Pfennige, where in most other parts of Gernany, Brandenburg included, the Groschen was valued at 12 Pfennige.

Duchy of Prussia (1525-1618)
In 1525 the Teutonic Knights' rule over Prussia was replaced by an autonomous duchy as a Polish fief. In 1528 duke Albrecht von Brandenburg and Polish King Sigismund I agreed on a system throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its dependencies where the Lübeck Mark of the Hanseatic League was equal to 24 Groschen. So the Lübeck Schilling was now worth 4.5 Prussian or Polish Schilling.

A period of stability commenced for Prussian money decoupled from devaluing Polish money from 1556. Meanwhile the Thaler became widespread in use and was valued at 24 Groschen in most parts of Germany, and its pure silver weight was determined at 1/9 of a Cologne Mark (233 grams divided by 9 makes approx. 26 grams of pure silver). As the fineness was set at 8/9 the Thaler's gross weight was 1/8 of a Cologne Mark or approx. 29.2 grams. This standard became known as the Reichsthaler by an official decree in 1566.

Brandenburg-Prussia (1618-1806)
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) saw the first period of severe inflation in most of Germany. Many debased new coins entered circulation, complicating the lives of many less financially savvy people. Although Brandenburg restored the old standards (Thaler = 24 Groschen = 288 Pfennige) swiftly, Prussia and Poland devalued to Thaler = 90 Groschen = 270 Schillinge = 1620 Pfennige in 1632.

In those days the Prussian 3 Groschen coins were named Düttchen and were quite popular in every day transactions. Next to this the Tympf, worth 18 Groschen or 1/5 of a Thaler, became widely used in Prussia and Poland from 1660.

The weight of the Thaler was altered over the years. In 1687 it was set to 1/12 of a Mark and Brandenburg-Prussia diverged in 1750 by devaluing to 1/14. Prussia did not take part in the Conventionsthaler reform initiated by Austria in 1750 which was based on a weight of 1/10 of a Cologne Mark.

Unified coinage for all of Prussia (1821-1874)
The coinages of Brandenburg and Prussia were finally united in 1821. The Prussian Thaler became divided in 30 Silbergroschen each of 12 Pfennige. Coins had denominations of 1, 2, 3 and 4 Pfennige, ½, 1 and 2½ Silvergroschen and 1/6, 2/3 and 1 Thaler. The Prussian Thaler formed the basis of what became the Vereinsthaler in 1857 which was adopted by the entire German Confederation including Austria. The German unification in 1871 preceded the introduction of a new and decimalised currency for Germany in 1874. The Mark was set at 1/3 of a Thaler and was divided in 100 Pfennig. Prussia continued to mint coins of denominations from 2 Mark until 1918, when the German Empire was dissolved and replaced by the Weimar Republic.
That's awesome, I'm not sure I could have sorted all that out in my head myself. I'm planning on doing China-Empire this weekend probably, and it amazes me that for thousands of years longer than in Europe, they had a relatively easier coinage system: "1000 Li/Cash = 100 Candareens = 10 Mace = 1 Tael".

In fact, if anything when they started to introduce Western-made silver coinage in 1889, that's when it got a bit more complicated, as their denominations were now "3.6, Candareens 7.2 Candareens, 1.44 Mace, etc." Still far more manageable than the German states though, which I think I'll leave to you :P
Looking closer at our beloved catalogue I have noticed that Brandenburg and Prussian coinage from before 1821 are mixed up. This should be split as they were different systems used in different geographical territories:

Brandenburg Thaler = 24 Groschen = 288 Pfennige
Prussian Thaler = 90 Groschen = 270 Schillinge = 1620 Pfennige

Coins of Prussia can be distinguished with 'PRUS' or 'PREUS' or 'PR' added to denomination, and otherwise by difference in silver content, as a Brandenburg Groschen was worth 3.75 Prussian Groschen, quite a big difference.

Next to that Silezian coinage is mixed up here as well. Silezia had the Kreuzer of which there were 72 in a Thaler.
The pre-1821 section of the Prussis section in the catalogue contains coins from:

- Brandenburg (Berlin)
- Prussia Proper (Königsberg)
- Silezia (Breslau)

The catalog mixes all these up. Here's a list of coins from Silezia and Prussia. If it were split this would prevent some confusion.

Silezia
1/2 Kreuzer 1788-1797 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces35977.html
1/2 Kreuzer 1806
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces60085.html
1 Kreuzer 1747 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces59513.html

Prussia Proper
1 Schilling 1701-1710 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces121195.html
1 Schilling 1714-1726 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces125207.html
1 Schilling 1733-1740 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces125208.html
1 Schilling 1741-1756 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces51842.html
1 Schilling 1766-1770 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces128205.html
1 Schilling 1771-1786 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces52191.html
1 Schilling 1788 E (Königsberg mint) https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces128223.html
1 Schilling 1790-1797 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces42184.html
1 Schilling 1804-1806 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces111395.html
1 Schilling 1810 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces45105.html
1/2 Groschen 1811 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces85416.html
1 Groschen 1764-1771 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces89563.html
1 Groschen 1771-1786 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces44003.html
1 Groschen 1810 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces29441.html
2 Groschen 1752-1757 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces128587.html
3 Gröscher 1714-1716 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces42544.html
3 Gröscher 1718-1723 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces125204.html
3 Gröscher 1751-1754 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces128588.html
3 Gröscher 1765-1767 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces128590.html
3 Gröscher 1771-1786 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces92077.html
6 Gröscher 1752-1757 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces121699.html
6 Gröscher 1767-1787 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces75067.html
New relevant acquisition!

1534 (?) Albrecht 1 Groschen; Duchy of Prussia.

My oldest dated coin yet. :wiz:
Here are some more coins associated with Prussia:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/prussian_partition-1.html

From 1792 to 1807 Prussia occupied a part of the Poznan area and named it South Prussia. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 borders were redefined and Prussia was awarded a bit smaller portion of the Poznan area and named it the Grand Duchy of Posen. Soon after it was integrated as a Prussian province and separate coinage ceased.
My Prussian Coins:

1913 Prussian Commemorative 3 Mark - 25th Anniversary of the Reign of Wilhelm II

1913 Prussian Commemorative 3 Mark - 100th Anniversary of the Defeat of Napoleon

1911 Prussian Commemorative 3 Mark - 100th Anniversary of Breslau University
My Prussian Exonumia:


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia107260.html


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia109138.html


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia114050.html


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia110304.html


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia118449.html


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia109977.html


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia84423.html
Does anyone know why this coin has no mint mark?

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