Skip to main content

The Monetary System

The monetary system used in both the Grand Duchy of Stollen and the Electorate of Zichenau (along with the surrounding principalities) is tied closely to that of neighboring Prussia on whose system it is based, albeit with a few distinct features. Stollen and Zichenau’s current monetary system was created in 1528 when the territories were still an integral part of extreme eastern Prussia. Here is how it breaks down:

1 Silver Mark = 14 Thaler = 24 Groschen (3 Polish Gulden) = 60 Schillings = 360 Pfennigs; 1 Groschen = 3 Schillings = 18 Pfennigs; 1 Schilling = 6 Pfennigs.

In the Electorate of Zichenau, there are some slight differences although this does not prevent a one-to-one parity that exists between the two. It is more usual in Zichenau to find Polish Gulden used rather than Groschen, and the Schilling is also rather more common. For large expenditures, i.e., defense budgets, the stock and commodities exchanges, etc., most amounts are calculated in Silver Marks and Thalers.

Much like Frederick the Great, the rulers of Stollen and Zichenau actively pursue the economic development of their countries through the introduction of greater numbers of manufacturers, inviting foreign merchants to set up shop, extending religious tolerance, digging canals to connect rivers, the cultivation of new crops, and so forth. However, Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II and his counterpart in The Electorate of Zichenau, Prince Sven-Heinrich, lack the vision, focus, and drive of Prussia’s Frederick II.

For instance, it was only in 1763 that Irwin-Amadeus was finally able to get the potato introduced to Stollenian farmers – seven years after Frederick did so in nearby Prussia! So, it is relatively easy to understand why he and “Sven-Heinie”, as Zichenau’s ministers privately refer to their current ruler, have had trouble pushing their small nations forward to the same degree as Frederick’s Prussia.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

And We're Off!!!

  Arrrgh!  Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus.  Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown.  More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart.   I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands.  In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands.   As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff.  Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

    A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century.  And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed.   The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area.  Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are.  Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors.  Grrrr.  As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered.  For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text .  I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well.  Now, we're getting somewhere.  I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas,  Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave.  I can't do that." -- Stokes