Johann Philipp Graumann
[8] According to Willem Kersseboom, a financial expert, he came from Electorate of Hanover and arrived in Amsterdam around 1720, which is hard to prove.
In 1749, he published his groundbreaking Abdruck eines Schreibens, die Teutsche und anderer Völker Münzverfassung, insonderheit die hochfürstliche Braunschweigische Münze zu den Annehmlichkeiten betreffend,[11] in which he described a plan to reform the mint and abandon the prevailing 1⁄12 Leipzig standard for silver coins (= 12 thalers per Cologne fine mark).
The book brought the activities of the Brunswick mint officials to the attention of the Prussian King Frederick II.
On 23 January 1750, Graumann was appointed as Frederick's confidential adviser on finance, military affairs, and royal possessions, as well as the Director-General of all mint facilities in Berlin, Breslau, Kleve, Aurich, Königsberg, Magdeburg and Stettin.
Prussia adopted a Prussian thaler containing 1⁄14 of a Cologne mark of silver, rather than 1⁄12 (as under the Leipzig standard), probably in the expectation that this realistic coin foot would prevail throughout the empire.
Graumann announced that he would be able to achieve high coin seignorage for the state and that Berlin would become the largest exchange center in Central and Northern Europe, taking away the banking and minting profits that were then accruing to the Dutch.
In 1750, silver - for half a million thalers - was purchased in London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt am Main for the mint facility of Berlin.
Because the profits of the mint facilities did not meet Frederick's goals, Graumann was dismissed early 1755,[23] and not allowed to disseminate his knowledge.
After Graumann's fall, the lease of the Prussian mint at Königsberg was transferred to Moses Fränkel and Veitel Heine Ephraim.
As the war continued Frederick agreed to reductions in the precious metal content of his coins in order to get as high a coinage as possible.
Rival mints in Harzgerode (1760) in Anhalt-Bernburg, Quedlinburg in Sachsen-Anhalt (1761), Schwerin in Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1761), Neustrelitz in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (1762) and Rethwisch in the Duchy of Holstein (1762) were forcibly closed or acquired by Prussia, c.q.
Frederick never shied away from responsibility for Prussian inflation, which many historians have characterized as a form of state-sponsored counterfeiting.
[34][35] He saw it as the only means of procuring the cash needed for warfare without imposing too heavy a tax burden on his subjects.
[38][39] According to Jan Greitens "Graumann and Justi were trapped in the situation of a divided Germany, in which many states had the right of coinage and devalued the coins to generate income.
"[40] After his dismissal by Frederick Graumann lived for the rest of his life in Palais am Festungsgraben (until World War II, the headquarters of the Prussian Finance Ministry).
[42] Graumann corresponded with the Scottish mercantilist James Steuart (economist) and produced a number of essays on the relationship between gold and silver.
[citation needed] In Graumann's view there were two successful coin "exporters": France and the Dutch Republic.
Graumann's ideas formed the basis for the introduction of a uniform German coinage system in the 19th century.
