The ''Roter Seufzer'' ("red sigh"), also called the ''Seufzer'' and ''Leipziger Seufzer'', was the popular name of the inferior six-''pfennig''

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

minted in huge quantities in 1701 and 1702 by the Prince-Elector of Saxony and

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...

Augustus the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

(1694–1733). The name of these coins was due to the loss that the population suffered as a result of the coins which had a high copper content.

History

In the years 1701 and 1702 the

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Mint in the Electorate of Saxony minted large numbers of six-''pfennig'' pieces. These coins initially bore a thin layer of high-quality silver, which quickly wore out in circulation, revealing an almost copper-red coin. The ''Roter Seufzers'' were struck from just under 2

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of silver (122/1000 silver; billon) and weighed 1.62 g. The coin inscription "LANDMÜNZ." meant that it was a

state coin During the Kipper und Wipper, ''Kipper'' and ''Wipper'' period and until the late 18th century, state coins (''Landmünzen''} in the German part of the Holy Roman Empire were those that were not minted according to the relevant imperial standard ...

and therefore did not have to comply with the

Imperial Minting Ordinance Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, T ...

, which was actually the case. The design of the ''Roter Seufzer'' was based on the inferior

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

six ''pfennig'' pieces which were nicknamed ''Rote Sechser'' ("red sixers") or ''Spieß'' and minted under Elector

Frederick William of Brandenburg Frederick William (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is ...

(1640–1688) and his successor Frederick III (I) (1688–1713) from 1676 to 1711. August II had two lots of the sixers struck in quick succession with a converted face value of 280,000 ''

Thaler A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter of ...

s'' each. The king made a net profit of 236,000 ''thalers'' from both items. The

mintmaster, Ernst Peter Hecht, survived the

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...

caused by the inferior sixers unchallenged. The mintmaster clearly did not take responsibility for the large numbers of low-value ''pfennig'' coins with his mintmaster's mark E.P.H., which flooded the Electorate.

Finger pointing

Medaille von 1702 des Grafen von Beichlingen (Kupferstich aus Köhlers Münzbelustigung Band 12, S

The King blamed the coin scandal on Grand Chancellor and

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, Wolf Dietrich, Count of Beichlingen, who had fallen out of favour in 1702 because of his issue of a ''Bankothaler'' ('' Beichlingscher Ordenstaler''). However, Beichlingen denied having arranged for the sixes to be issued: It was also the time of the

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(1700–1721) against the

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when Augustus II urgently needed funding.

Devaluation

The following is recorded in the ''Conversations Lexicon'' of 1831 on responsibility for the “plan of the financial company” and its effects: It is not clear who was responsible for issuing the Red ''Seufzers''. The inferior sixers were devalued to 3 pfennigs by the edict of 16 February 1703. However, the population did not rate them higher than 2 pfennigs and thus achieved a further devaluation through the edict of 13 April 1703. With that they harmed themselves herself the most, because the provincial banks now only had to redeem it at 2 pfennigs. In the end they were only used as

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s.Haupt (1974), p. 170/171

References

Literature

* Walther Haupt: ''Sächsische Münzkunde'', Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974 * Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: ''transpress Lexikon Numismatik'', Berlin 1976 * Friedrich von Schrötter, N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer] J. Wilcke: ''Wörterbuch der Münzkunde'', Berlin 1970 (reprint of the original 1930 edn.) * Gerhard Schön: ''Deutscher Münzkatalog 18. Jahrhundert'', München 1984
Allgemeine deutsche Real-Encyklopädie für die gebildeten Stände (Conversations-Lexikon), Vol. 10 , Reutlingen 1831
{{Pfennig Pfennig History of Saxony Coins of the Holy Roman Empire Coins of Poland

History

Finger pointing

Devaluation

See also

References

Literature