World coins chat: German States - Anhalt

Anhalt was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed as multiple partitions all the way until it was reunified to a duchy in 1863 and as such it was a part of the German Empire until 1918. Anhalt's location was in what is today the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, west of Berlin.


Flag of the Duchy of Anhalt

History
The Principality of Anhalt was one of the many successor states of the early medieval Duchy of Saxony which was dissolved in 1180. Anhalt was first part of Brandenburg but became an independent principality in 1212. From 1252 it was partitioned many times until it became united again in 1570:

- Aschersleben (1252-1315): ceded to the Bishopric of Halberstedt
- Bernburg (1252-1468): returned to Anhalt-Zerbst
- Zerbst (1252- ): extinct in. Second instance split from Dessau in 1546 but returned to it in 1570.
- Dessau (1396-1863): split from Zerbst
- Köthen (1471-1547): split from Dessau. Was dispossessed by the catholic Emperor Charles V against the protestant Reformation in the Schmalkaldic War. Existed again from 1552 to 1562, then inherited by Anhalt-Dessau.
- Plötzkau (1546-1570): split from Dessau and returned to it shortly after.


Anhalt was located just north of the Thuringian states almost completely encapsulated by Prussian territory.

In 1603 Anhalt was split again into Dessau, Bernburg, Plötzkau, Zerbst and Köthen. From 1635 until 1709 Bernburg was branched off into a line in Harzgerode. The Köthen line became extinct in 1665 but the Plötzkau line took over its name. Anhalt-Zerbst was divided over the remaining princes in 1793. In 1806 Napoleon reformed these three states into duchies. In 1863 Anhalt was reunited again after the extinction of the Bernburg and Köthen lines, with the capital in Dessau.


Detailed map of Anhalt mostly surrounded by Prussia. It did border Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel as well.

A close ally of neighbouring Prussia, the Duchy of Anhalt joined the North German Confederation in 1866 and the German Empire in 1871. The last duke abdicated in the aftermath of World War I when the November Revolution in 1918 turned Germany into a republic. Anhalt was a free state of the Weimar Republic. After World War 2 it was united with the Prussian province of Saxony to form Saxony-Anhalt. As the GDR reformed its provinces in 1952 it took until 1990 before Saxony-Anhalt became a federal state in a reunified Germany.

Currency
Anhalt's coin history is similar to Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony. A Thaler was divided in 24 Groschen each of 12 Pfennige. A Gulden was 16 Groschen and occasionally the denomination of Mariengroschen ( 8 Pfennig) was used.

The Conventionsthaler was introduced in 1753 and was set at 1/10 of a Cologne Mark (233.86g) of pure silver and worth 1⅓ regular Thaler (13⅓ to the Mark). Consequently a Gulden was worth ½ Conventionsthaler or 20 Gulden to the Cologne Mark.

In 1829 Anhalt joined a customs and monetary union based on the Prussian Thaler which was on a 14 Thaler standard. It remained divided in 24 Groschen each of 12 Pfennige, but in 1840 this was changed to 30 Silbergroschen each of 12 Pfennige. By that time only Anhalt-Bernburg still had coins in its own name.

The German Mark replaced the Thaler at a rate of 3 Mark per Thaler in 1873. From this time Anhalt only minted a low number of high denomination coins which probably hardly circulated.

Catalogue
Earldom of Anhalt (1123-1299)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_earldom-1.html

Principality of Anhalt (1570-1603)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_principality-1.html

Anhalt-Bernburg (1603-1863)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_bernburg-1.html

Anhalt-Bernburg-Harzgerode (1635-1709)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_harzgerode_principality-1.html

Anhalt-Dessau (1603-1918)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_dessau-1.html

Anhalt-Zerbst (1603-1793)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_zerbst-1.html

Anhalt-Plötzkau (1603-1665)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_plotzkau_duchy-1.html

Anhalt-Köthen (1603-1863)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/anhalt_kothen-1.html

The bear of Anhalt, an easily recognisable heraldic symbol that appears on most Anhalt-whatever coins until German unification in 1871.

I'm starting to think we should have a quick identifier by Coats of Arms and common motifs for all those German/Italian/whatever states handy as a Numisdoc or public thread on the Identifications thread, to help both IDers and requesters like in Krause. Except instead of having obvious ones like the Marianne on French coins, we would focus on iconic symbols that can be traced back to a few issuers (e.g. crossed keys for Bremen, pine cone for Augsburg, etc...)