Pfennig - History

History

In the 8th century, Charlemagne declared that 240 Pfennigs should be minted from a pound of silver. A single coin had mass of 1.3 grams, or 1.7 grams of after the coinage reform of circa 790. Until the 13th century, the pfennig was made from real silver, and thus of high value. From the 12th century on, the King was no longer able to enforce the regalia to mint coins, so many towns and local lords made their own coins, mostly using less valuable metals and less metal per coin, so different Pfennigs had different values.

Some renowned coins are the Häller Pfennig of Schwäbisch Hall, some centuries later called Heller and minted throughout the country, and the Kreuzer (from "Kreuz", the cross minted on the coins).

In the late 17th century the pfennigs had lost most of their value. The last Pfennig coins containing traces of silver are rarities minted in 1805.

The Mark gold currency, introduced in 1873 as currency of the newly founded German Reich, was parted as 1 Mark = 100 Pfennig. This partition was retained through all German currencies until 2001.

The last West German one- and two-Pfennig coins were steel with a copper coating, the five- and ten-Pfennig coins were steel with a brass coating. The latter was called Groschen, while the five-pfennig coin, half a groschen, was regionally (east of the river Elbe) also referred to as the Sechser (literally in English: sixpence), deriving from the former duodecimal division of the groschen. All four coins had their value imprinted on the obverse and oak on the reverse.

The coins of the Mark der DDR were made of aluminium, except for the 20 pfennigs coin, which was made of an aluminium copper alloy.

• German Empire: 25 pfennig iron coin 1918. The word on the top means "wartime money".

• Free City of Danzig: 10 pfennig 1932

• West Germany: 1 pfennig coin 1950

• East Germany: 1 pfennig coin 1979

• Rottweil: Rottweil pfennig, issued between 1200 and 1220

• Nazi Germany:10 reichspfennig coin 1937.