Groschen

The groschen was first introduced into the Holy Roman Empire in 1271 by Duke Meinhard II of Tyrol in Merano.

In essence, it took the place of a variety of the older pfennigs, whose silver purity had inflated their value over the centuries.

According to one source, the city of Trier is said to have struck groschen-like, thick pfennigs as early as 1104, which were then followed in 1300 by the Bohemian groschen from Kuttenberg.

The new coin soon inspired other 'mint lords' (Münzherren) and was given, not least for reasons of economic necessity, a higher face value in the Early Renaissance period.

Upper Italian coins of multiple pfennig value in the High Middle Ages were similarly called Grossini (cf.

The 1286 Tyrolean example (above right) weighs 1.45 grams (22.4 grains), it is marked with ME IN AR DVS (for "Meinhard") and a Double Cross (obverse), and with DUX TIROL and the Eagle of Tyrol (reverse).

In 1328 Emperor Louis IV, the Bavarian, authorised Count Adolf VI of Berg to mint torneses in Wipperfürth.

Their weight steadily dropped to 1.8 grams (28 grains) of silver and since 1752 they were replaced by copper coins of the same name.

In the 19th century, a new currency system was introduced in which the Groschen, often under a new name to distinguish it from the old, was worth 1⁄30 of a Thaler or Taler.

The last German Kurantgroschen (regarding the simple face value)[clarification needed] were issued in the Kingdom of Saxony in 1827 and 1828, and in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1837 based on a monetary standard, the Konventionsfuß, of the state, according to which the silver contained in 320 groschen was equal to the weight of a Cologne Mark (233.856 grammes).

Another special case is the Kipperthaler, on which the value in groschen (or Kreuzer) is also stamped to circumvent the Imperial Minting Ordinance (Reichsmünzordnung).

In Palestine during the British Mandate, a grush was a coin with a hole in it, valued at 1⁄100 part of a pound (ten mils).