Debased coins of Germany

financial crisis in 17th century

thumb|Scheidemünze 1 Pfenning, A Scheidemünzen (singular – Scheidemünze) were representative coins or token coins issued alongside Kurantgeld or currency money in Austria and Germany up to start of the First World War in August 1914 whose intrinsic metal value was less than the legal value stamped on them. Like Notgeld ("emergency money") they were a kind of credit money or fiat money. The term Scheidemünze ("division money") referred to the "division into hellers and pfennigs during the purchase process" ("Scheiden auf Heller und Pfennig beim Kaufvorgang"). It thus applied to the low- to medi