The Munich Coinage Treaty ( German : Münchner Münzvertrag ) of 1837 was a treaty between six southern German states who agreed to form the South German Coinage Union ( Süddeutsche Münzverein ) and to unify their currencies together with some of the central German states. The Munich Coinage Treaty was updated by the South German Coinage Convention of 1845. The agreement is less commonly known as the Munich Coin Treaty .
22-622: As early as the 17th and 18th centuries, various German states had tried to harmonise the most important parameters of their coinage. The reason for the passing of the Munich Coinage Treaty was the devaluation of the 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 ⁄ 4 Gulden coins minted to the Kronenthaler standard by the Grand Duchy of Baden . The silver coins minted to the 24 gulden standard of the southern German states had lost
44-548: A Dutch Guilder . It circulated until the Napoleonic Wars . In 1818 the Netherlands decimalised its guilder into 100 cents. Two stuivers equalled a dubbeltje - the ten-cent coin. After the decimalisation of Dutch currency, the name "stuiver" was preserved as a nickname for the five-cent coin until the introduction of the euro in 2002. The word can still refer to the 5 euro cent coin , which has almost exactly
66-518: A fixed ratio to 1 Thaler . The larger smaller denomination silver coins were also standardized in terms of design, dimensions and silver content in order to remove obstacles to their mutual acceptance. The relationship between the Gulden and the Kreuzer was now fixed. Previously, the southern German states had basically divided the Gulden into 60 Kreuzers , but occasionally reckoned more than 60 to
88-706: A great deal of weight due to abrasion in circulation, so that on average they corresponded to a 24½ gulden standard. With the devaluation, it was intended that the real and the nominal value of the coins should be more closely aligned again. The following states co-founded the South German Coinage Union: Bavaria , Württemberg , Baden , Hesse-Darmstadt , Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt . In 1838 and 1839, Saxe-Meiningen , Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , Hohenzollern-Hechingen , Hesse-Homburg and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt also acceded to
110-427: A kronenthaler valuation of 4x 27 ⁄ 28 livres = 3.86 livres. Instead the écu de Brabant is accepted at a higher rate of 3.9 livres. The rate of conversion to the new Swiss currency was 5 5 ⁄ 7 Swiss francs per kronenthaler. Stuiver The stuiver [ˈstœyvər] was a coin used in the Netherlands, worth 1 ⁄ 20 of a guilder (16 penning or 8 duit , later 5 cents). It
132-637: A new parity of 1 gulden = 4 ⁄ 7 Prussian thaler = 1 ⁄ 24.5 Cologne mark =9.545 grams of silver as part of the German Customs Union and currency union of 1837. The kronenthaler was thus retired in favor of the new Dutch and South German guilders. The kronenthaler was also the most favorable medium of exchange in Switzerland prior to the adoption of the Swiss franc in 1850. French écus accepted at 4 Swiss livres imply
154-524: A popular trade coin in early 19th century Europe. Most examples show the bust of the Austrian ruler on the obverse and three or four crowns on the reverse, hence the name which means "crown thaler" (also Brabanter and crocione (Italian). The kronenthaler was initially issued with the same weight as the French écu at around 29.5 grams, but with a value of 54 sols ( stuivers ) or 2.7 gulden while
176-795: A value of 1 + 1 ⁄ 3 albus or 16 hellers , in Cleves , 21 hellers . One Rechnungstaler corresponded to 60 Stüber . From 1660, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) began to strike copper stuiver coins for local use in Dutch Ceylon . At first, the coins were simply stamped on both sides with their denomination but from 1783, the VOC monogram and date were added. The coins were minted at Colombo , Jaffna , Galle and Trincomalee . These coins were issued till British occupation in 1796. The stiver ( Sinhala : තුට්ටුව )
198-635: The Gulden . The conditions below the Kreuzer , on the other hand, remained unregulated. The Heller could correspond to a Pfennig in one state (Frankfurt, Hesse-Darmstadt) or to 1 ⁄ 2 Pfennig in another (Bavaria). Other member states dispensed with the denominations Pfennig and Heller and designated the smallest copper coins as fractions of the Kreuzer ( 1 ⁄ 4 and even 1 ⁄ 8 Kreuzer in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt). The Munich Coin Treaty in part inspired
220-635: The Hainault ( Hennegau ) and which had a value of 1 ⁄ 20 Rhenish gulden . It corresponded to 3 Brabant Plakken , 2 Flemish Groten , 16 Dutch pfennigs or 1 Artesian schilling . The name "stuiver" derives from the Dutch stuiven ("flying sparks"), since on early Flemish stuivers "spark-producing flints of the Collar of the Golden Fleece " were depicted. Twenty stuivers equalled
242-601: The 1838 Dresden Coinage Convention , by which the Zollverein attempted to standardise its currencies. However, although the Dresden Treaty standardised currency exchange rates, it did not make coins legal tender extraterritorially. Kronenthaler The Kronenthaler was a silver coin first issued in 1755 in the Austrian Netherlands (see Austrian Netherlands Kronenthaler ) and which became
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#1732787335457264-591: The 2.4-gulden Conventionsthaler (with 9.74 grams of silver per gulden). The kronenthaler was minted prolifically in the 19th century precisely because it yielded the issuer the maximum amount of guilders for a fixed quantity of coined silver. The situation was resolved in the Netherlands by reducing the fine silver content of the Dutch gulden to 9.45 grams, and in the Southern German states by adopting
286-600: The Kronenthaler. The French annexation of the Southern Netherlands in 1794 resulted in the conversion of Kronenthalers and 6-livre écus into new French francs at the rate of 1 franc = 1.0125 livre tournois = 0.16875 écu = 4.5 grams fine silver. This implies a fine silver equivalence of 26 2 ⁄ 3 grams per écu, 25 5 ⁄ 7 grams per kronenthaler, and 9 11 ⁄ 21 or 9.52 grams per gulden. This reduced-value Belgian gulden doomed
308-634: The Munich Treaty, standardisation principles for the larger, lower denomination silver coins were agreed. With the harmonisation of its own coinage system, the South German Coinage Union not only unified the value of the Gulden within the treaty area, but also created the basis for currency harmonisation with the north German states through the Dresden Coinage Treaty of 1838. There were now 1.75 Gulden in
330-597: The introduction of the 9.61-gram Dutch Gulden as standard currency of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 as the conversion of 2.7-guilder Kronenthalers into 2.7 Dutch guilders was guaranteed. At about the same time from 1807-1837, several German states (e.g., Bavaria , Baden , Württemberg ) engaged in a competitive depreciation of the South German gulden by choosing to mint 2.7-gulden Kronenthalers (with 9.52 grams of silver per gulden) rather than
352-539: The same diameter and colour despite being over twice the value of the older coin. The Stüber (abbreviation: stbr .) or Stüver was a small groschen coin that was minted in north-west Germany, especially in the territories of today's North Rhine-Westphalia and in the County of East Frisia roughly from the end of the 15th century to the early 19th century. On the Lower Rhine , these coins mostly had
374-458: The silver to mint their own.) The treaty also established that coins minted in any of the six states was legal tender in all six states. The Cologne Mark was fixed in Article X of the Treaty at a coin base weight of 233.855 grams. From this basic coin weight, 24½ Gulden were minted (Article II), each divided into 60 Kreuzer according to Article III. In a separate agreement alongside
396-503: The treaty. The South German Coinage Union lasted until the introduction of the imperial currency in 1871. Agreed to on 25 August 1837, the six states agreed that the value of the gulden should be the same, regardless of which of the states issued it, and that the silver content on the gulden should be equal to 90 per cent of the coin's face value. (One reason for these provisions was that they were intended to prevent states from profiting by melting down other states' silver coins and using
418-514: The écu had a value of 56 sols (stuivers) or 2.8 gulden. French écus with 27 grams of fine silver can be theoretically melted and reissued into kronenthalers with 27x 27 ⁄ 28 = 26 grams of fine silver, matching the silver content of the Reichsthaler of the Leipzig convention. A deliberate minting of below-standard French écus, however, also resulted in a decreased silver content for
440-456: Was a currency denomination ( 1 ⁄ 48 Ceylonese rixdollar ) in use across the 18th and 19th century Sri Lanka and Caribbean, especially among the Dutch, Danish , and Swedish islands . It was also a denomination that formed part of the currency system of Demerara-Essequibo (later British Guiana , now Guyana ). In the British colonies, a stiver had a value of twopence . The currency
462-481: Was also mentioned in the famous poem by Robert Browning , The Pied Piper of Hamelin : "With you, don't think I'll bate [abate, reduce my demands by] a stiver! And folks who put me in a passion may find me pipe after another fashion." The name Stüber was also considered for a coin that would have been a sub-division of the Austrian Schilling introduced in 1924; In the end, however, the name Groschen
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#1732787335457484-419: Was also minted on the Lower Rhine region and the Dutch colonies . The word can still refer to the 5 euro cent coin , which has almost exactly the same diameter and colour despite being over twice the value of the older coin. The Stüber emerged from the vierlander ("coin of four provinces"), that Philip III of Burgundy had minted from 1434 as a common denomination for Brabant , Flanders , Holland and
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