[1] Starting around 1621, city-states in the Holy Roman Empire began to heavily debase currency in order to raise revenue for the Thirty Years' War,[2] as effective taxation did not exist.
More and more mints were established until the debased metal coins were so worthless that children allegedly played with them in the street, which became the basis for Leo Tolstoy's short story "Ivan the Fool".
The name refers to the use of tipping scales to identify not-yet-debased coins, which were then taken out of circulation, melted, mixed with baser metals such as lead, copper or tin, and re-issued.
This worked for a while; but after a time, the general public caught on to the manipulation, resulting in pamphlets denouncing the practice, local riots and the refusal of soldiers and mercenaries to fight unless paid in real, non-debased money.
During the financial crisis of Kipper und Wipper, people clipped or shaved the sides of coins.
Charles P. Kindleberger wrote, "Bad money was taken by debasing states to their neighbors and exchanged for good."