Debasement

Under Münzentwertung refers to the reduction of the precious metal fineness of Münznominals the time of Kurantmünzen.

This devaluation was usually insidious over the decades or centuries and had most of the fraudulent intent of the augmentation of money minting authority over its citizens to the background. In times of crisis such as the time of Schinderlinge or Kipper und Wipper this time period could be as low as a few months.

Winning the minting authority lay in the temporal lobe of the knowledge of the Münzentwertung towards its citizens, so that the price increases were effective for him later. Had to wear the consequences of Münzentwertung (inflation ) is always the simple and uneducated strata of the population (see also Ephraim and mint Leipzig: Under Prussian occupation ).

Coinage were significantly more likely affected by the Münzentwertung than large coins. Expression of Münzentwertung was, for example, that the penny from a Kurantmünze in the Middle Ages to the copper fractional currency plummeted.

Often caused by specific time " Multiple " of the erstwhile high-quality Notional Amount, which in turn was defeated in the course of time a Münzentwertung. See also Schilling.

Some types of coins were largely excluded from Münzentwertungen, eg ducats.

Prague Groschen

Prague Groschen as an example (about weights in fine silver ):