Roter Seufzer

The ''Roter Seufzer'' ("red sigh"), also called the ''Seufzer'' and ''Leipziger Seufzer'', was the popular name of the inferior six-''pfennig'' coin minted in huge quantities in 1701 and 1702 by the Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Augustus the Strong (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 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 lots of silver (122/1000 silver; billon) and weighed 1.62 g. The coin inscription "LANDMÜNZ." meant that it was a state coin and therefore did not have to comply with the Imperial Minting Ordinance, which was actually the case. The design of the ''Roter Seufzer'' was based on the inferior Brandenburg six ''pfennig'' pieces which were nicknamed ''Rote Sechser'' ("red sixers") or ''Spieß'' and minted under Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (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 ''Thalers'' each. The king made a net profit of 236,000 ''thalers'' from both items. The Leipzig mintmaster, Ernst Peter Hecht, survived the economic crisis 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

The King blamed the coin scandal on Grand Chancellor and Privy Council, 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 Great Northern War (1700–1721) against the Sweden 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 gaming counters.Haupt (1974), p. 170/171

See also

* Saxon coin history
* Kippertaler
* Böse Halser

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