Heller (coin)

The Heller, abbreviation hlr, was a coin, originally valued at half a pfennig, that was issued in Switzerland and states of the Holy Roman Empire, surviving in some European countries until the 20th century.

Notgeld (emergency paper money) was issued in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein during the interwar period denominated in hellers.

[4][5] Silver coins stamped on both sides (Häller Pfennige) were called Händelheller because they usually depicted a hand.

Mints produced the coin from the beginning of the 13th century,[6] based on a previously produced silver pfennig (Häller Pfennig, sometimes called Händelheller for its depiction of a hand on the front face), but its composition deteriorated with the mixing in copper little by little so that it was no longer considered to be a silver coin.

Beginning in the Middle Ages it became a symbol of low worth, and a common German byword is "keinen (roten) Heller wert", lit.

The Görlitz Heller (Katterfinken) was a coin whose silver content decreased more and more in later years.

Only the last Bavarian Heller of the former guilder standard were still valid in Bavaria for a considerable time after 1878 as 1⁄2 pf coins of the new Goldmark imperial currency.

In the 1920s the Heller currency was expanded to greater denominations in the German territories and printed bills were produced to represent their value for trade.

In the late Middle Ages, the haller was the lowest denomination coin in the area of the Swiss Confederation and corresponded to half a pfennig.

This haller established itself as a basic unit in the city-state of Zurich and in the princely Abbey of St. Gallen from 1370 onwards.