The Roter Seufzer ("red sigh"), also called the Seufzer and Leipziger Seufzer, was the popular name of the inferior six-pfennig coin minted in huge quantities in 1701 and 1702 by the Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Augustus the Strong (1694–1733). The name of these coins was due to the loss that the population suffered as a result of the coins which had a high copper content.[1]
In the years 1701 and 1702[2] the Leipzig Mint in the Electorate of Saxony minted large numbers of six-pfennig pieces. These coins initially bore a thin layer of high-quality silver, which quickly wore out in circulation, revealing an almost copper-red coin. The Roter Seufzers were struck from just under 2 lots of silver (122/1000 silver; billon) and weighed 1.62 g.[3] The coin inscription "LANDMÜNZ." meant that it was a state coin and therefore did not have to comply with the Imperial Minting Ordinance, which was actually the case. The design of the Roter Seufzer was based on the inferior Brandenburg six pfennig pieces[4] which were nicknamed Rote Sechser ("red sixers") or Spieß and minted under Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1640–1688) and his successor Frederick III (I) (1688–1713) from 1676 to 1711.[5] [6] [7]
August II had two lots of the sixers struck in quick succession with a converted face value of 280,000 Thalers each. The king made a net profit of 236,000 thalers from both items.[8] The Leipzig mintmaster, Ernst Peter Hecht, survived the economic crisis caused by the inferior sixers unchallenged. The mintmaster clearly did not take responsibility for the large numbers of low-value pfennig coins with his mintmaster's mark E.P.H., which flooded the Electorate.
The King blamed the coin scandal on Grand Chancellor and Privy Council, Wolf Dietrich, Count of Beichlingen,[9] who had fallen out of favour in 1702 because of his issue of a Bankothaler (Beichlingscher Ordenstaler).[10] However, Beichlingen denied having arranged for the sixes to be issued:
It was also the time of the Great Northern War (1700–1721) against the Sweden when Augustus II urgently needed funding.
The following is recorded in the Conversations Lexicon of 1831 on responsibility for the “plan of the financial company” and its effects:
It is not clear who was responsible for issuing the Red Seufzers. The inferior sixers were devalued to 3 pfennigs by the edict of 16 February 1703. However, the population did not rate them higher than 2 pfennigs and thus achieved a further devaluation through the edict of 13 April 1703. With that they harmed themselves herself the most, because the provincial banks now only had to redeem it at 2 pfennigs. In the end they were only used as gaming counters.[11]