Groschen - History

History

Names like Groschen, grossus/grossi, grosso, grossone, Grosz, gros, Groš, groat, Grote, Groten, Garas etc. were used in the Middle Ages for all thick silver coins, as opposed to thin silver coins such as deniers or pennies. Historically it was equal to between several and a dozen denarii.

The type was introduced in 1271 by Duke Meinhard II of Tyrol in Meran. The 1286 example depicted here weighs 1,45 g, it is marked with ME IN AR DVS and a Double Cross (Obverse), and with DUX TIROL and the Eagle of Tyrol (Reverse)

It was minted since the Middle Ages in the following areas:

• Tirol (since 1271)
• England (since 1279, the groat, )
• Bohemia (since 1300, the Prager Groschen, later adopted by most of the Central European countries)
• Poland (since 1367, the Krakau Groschen, 3,2 grams of silver, an equivalent of 12 denarius)
• Moldavia (since the reign of Petru I, 1375–1391)

Later the tradition of Groschen was dropped in most states while others continued to mint only coins smaller than the original coin. In Poland for example, since 1526 these included coins of 1/2 grosz, 1 grosz, 1,5 grosz, 2 grosz, 3 grosz, 4 grosz and 6 grosz. Their weight gradually dropped to 1,8 grams of silver and since 1752 they were replaced by copper coins of the same name.

In recent times, the name was used by two currencies in circulation:

• In Poland a grosz (plural: grosze or groszy, depending on the number) is a 1/100 part of a Złoty
• In Austria a Groschen (plural: Groschen) was a 1/100 part of a Schilling (1924–1938 and 1945–2001)

Likewise, in Germany Groschen remained a slang term for the 10 Pfennig coin, thus a 1/10 part both of the (West German) Deutsche Mark and the East German Mark. The word has lost popularity with the introduction of the Euro, although it can still be heard on occasion, especially from older people.

In Western Ukraine, grosh is still a slang term for the kopiyka, a 1/100 part of a Hryvnia. The Ukrainian word for money, hroshi, ultimately derives from this term also.

In Bulgaria, the grosh (Cyrillic: грош) was used as a currency until the lev was introduced in the 19th century.

In Bulgarian, Macedonian and Croatian and Serbian, the term has been retained as a general word for a coin or currency in a number of money-related proverbs and sayings, and can also be regularly encountered in folk tales or stories set vaguely in the past.

In Palestine during the British Mandate, a grush was a coin with a hole in it, valued at 1/100 part of a pound. It was named after an Ottoman coin. When the pound was replaced by the lira after Israeli statehood in 1948, the name was transferred to a coin (no longer with a hole) worth 1/100 of a lira. The name persisted for a while after the lira was replaced by the shekel in 1960, but it gradually lost its standing as a the name of a certain coin. Now it is a slang for a very small value.