Sechsling

The Sechsling, also ''Sößling'', ''Søsling'' (Dan./Norw.) or ''Sechser'', was the name of a type of coin with a value of six ''Pfennigs'', representing half a ''Groschen'' or half ''Schilling'' depending on the monetary system.

The ''Sechsling'' was first minted in 1388 by the city of Lübeck. With the treaty (''Rezess'') of 1392, the ''Sechsling'' became part of the monetary system within the Wendish Coinage Union and was thus a so-called 'Union coin' (''Vereinsmünze''). In addition to Lübeck, it was therefore issued by Hamburg, Lüneburg and Wismar. Other cities followed.

The ''Sechsling'' was minted until the dissolution of the Wendish Coinage Union after the middle of the 16th century. In the following imperial minting ordinance (''Reichsmünzordnung''), which was based on the ''Thaler'', it was worth  ''Thaler''. Hamburg minted the last ''Sechslings'' in 1855 from a billon alloy.

Deriving from the Prussian silver groschen ( ''Thaler''), after the introduction of the imperial Mark in 1871, the equivalent 10 ''Pfennig'' coin was popularly referred to in Germany as a ''Groschen''. In the Berlin dialect, the term ''Sechser'' for half a ''Groschen'' was simply transferred to the 5 ''Pfennig'' coin; this designation is still occasionally heard in relation to the 5 euro cent coin. Colloquially, some bridges in Berlin are still called ''Sechser'' bridges (''Sechserbrücke'') because the toll for pedestrians was once 6 ''Pfennigs'' or ''groschen''.

See also

* ''Roter Seufzer'', a 6 ''pfennig'' piece from the Leipzig Mint

References

* Wilhelm Jesse: ''Der Wendische Münzverein''. 2nd edition. Brunswick: Klinkhardt & Bärmann, 1967 (reprint of the 1928 Lübeck ed.).

{{Groschen

Coins of the Holy Roman Empire
Pfennig
Groschen