Ephraimite (coin)

The coins were spread by merchants and soldiers in Silesia, Bohemia, Poland and Courland and traded as if they were of official silver content.

These Saxon coin stamps mainly dated back before 1756 and became available to the Prussian state when it occupied Saxony in the early stages of the Third Silesian War.

In Leipzig the entrepreneurs Ephraim, Itzig and company produced vast masses of low-valued money, in tympfs, and in six-, three- and (most often) eight-groschen pieces.

The fraud was successful for only three years, but due to the low number of qualified experts, it could last longer in rural than in urban areas.

[3] Following the end of the war, the sub-value Prussian coins were quickly removed from circulation,[4] and melted because of the relatively high silver content.

On 7 or 18 November 1761, Frederick forbade the use of foreign debased coins in Prussia and Saxony that were minted by Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann in Rethwisch.

[6][7] In January 1762 L.P. De Neufville started to import and melt debased coins from Mecklenburg, Plön and Zerbst, expecting to sell the refined silver at a high price to Prussian merchants.

[8][9] In May 1762 De Neufville bought an estate outside Heemstede; he experimented with silver refining, but was not very successful, according to Johann Heinrich Müntz.

[10] In July 1763 the Russian senate insisted on being paid promptly; she demanded payment in Dutch guilders, and not in debased Saxon coins.