DREIER: COIN OF GERMANY
Dreier, 1681-1682: Duchy of Saxe-Weimar (Germany)
Saxe-Weimar (German "Sachsen-Weimar", 1572-1809) — one of the Saxon duchies in present-day Thuringia.
Ruler: John Ernest II (German "Johann Ernst II") — duke of Saxe-Weimar during 1662-1683. He was a representative of the House of Wettin (one of the oldest in Europe dynasties which included Saxon kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia).
This type of coin was minted during at least 1681-1682; the dating of this particular example is lost.
The number "3" (representing the equality of the dreier coin to three pfennigs) inside the Imperial Orb of the Holy Roman Empire or Globus cruciger as an attribute of state power within cartouche. — This graphic element is also a Christian symbol of authority and has been a very popular motif on various European coins since the Middle Ages.
IE HZG: an abbreviation that may be a contraction of the German phrase "John Ernest Herzog" (John Ernest duke).
A variation on the coat of arms of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar (includes the heraldic symbol of the House of Wettin).
- Silver (billon): 17 mm - 0.68 g
- Reference price: 11$
COIN DREIER — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- GERMAN STATES, 16th-18th centuries (Principality of Anhalt, City of Goslar, Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Free city of Augsburg, Magraviate of Baden, City of Einbeck, Margraviate of Brandenburg, Bishopric of Halberstadt, City of Hamelin, City of Hannover, City of Hildesheim, Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Free imperial city of Nuremberg, County of Regenstein, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenac, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz...): dreier = 3 pfennig
DREIER as coin name.
Dreier — old German coin, equal to 3 pfennigs.
It was minted mainly during the 16th-18th centuries by several German States.
Interestingly, in the specified period, in addition to dreier, there was also another denomination of coin, equal to 3 pfennigs — dreiling (in addition, there is information that the German gröschel also had exactly the same value).
Why such confusion with duplication of denominations, I do not know. Probably, the thing is that different German lands had their own monetary systems with their own sets of typical denominations.
The name dreier, like dreiling, apparently got from the German word "drei", which literally translates as "three".
