Ewiger Pfennig

An example of how the exchange was enforced is provided by Freiberg's municipal law: Swenne die munzmeister nuwe pfennige uzwerfen, so sullen si di alden verbieten lazen.

Die mugen dan noch gen vircehn Tage ane vare.

[5] In the Görlitz town records (Stadtbuch) of 1305 one reads that for an interest-free loan of 100 Marks of silver the mintmaster for the March of Brandenburg, Henry of Salza, promised not to break the coins at the weekly markets anymore (to make them unusable for trading).

Ewiger Pfennigs of the hollow (Hohlpfennig) type, diameter 19 to 21 mm, weight 0.32 to 0.54 g are shown in the following pictures: The opportunity to introduce the eternal penny was [...] when here first the countryside and towns of the Mittelmark bought the mint from Elector Otto for 6,500 silver marks in 1369: that was how this town belonged, for the time being, to the Berlin mintmaster, also among those who were still entitled to strike pfennigs and scherfs and received a letter of protection from the Elector.

A Spandow pfennig, [...] was a hollow coin, on which a burgonet and mace was portrayed along with part of the town's coat of arms.In 1369, Margrave Otto VIII (1365–1373) left the minting of the Ewiger Pfennig to the estates in the mint districts of Stendal and Berlin for a one-off payment.

Emperor Charles IV bought the March of Brandenburg from the Wittelsbach margrave in 1373 and reorganized the coinage system.