Kreuzer

The Kreuzer was a silver coin and unit of currency existing in the Southern German states prior to the unification of Germany in 1870, and in Austria. In 1559 a value of 60 Kreuzer to 1 Gulden had been adopted throughout the Southern states of the Holy Roman Empire, but the northern German states declined to join, and used Groschen instead of Kreuzer. The Kreuzer in turn was worth about 4.2 Pfennige, or pennies. Thus one (golden) Gulden was worth 60 Kreuzer, or 252 Pfennige.

These values of the currency were not stable, but changed over time as the silver content of the Kreuzer changed, until it was evenutally replaced by paper currency in the nineteenth century.