In 1623 the Higher Circles adopted by their Mint determination the following system:—
Thaler = 90 kr.
Gold gulden = 1 fl. 44 kr.
Ducat = 2 fl. 20 kr.
In the smaller pieces the basis was the mark of fine silver = 16-florin = 10 2⁄3 thaler.
For example—
| 1⁄2-Batzen, | 7 | loth fine, | 210 | to the mark. |
| Kreutzer, | 5 | " | 300 | " |
| 3-Heller piece, | 3 1⁄2 | " | 560 | " |
| Pfennige, | 3 | " | 720 | " |
To this system the Lower Circles acceded, in the same year 1623, after an ineffectual attempt to enforce the interim standard of 1596, which had set the Reichs thaler at 21 batzen or 84 kreutzers.
From this united action of the Upper and Lower Circles Saxony stood apart, following quite a different course. While elsewhere the thaler was raised, here they lowered it to its old equivalence of 24 groschen. In actual practice, however, the step proved only half effective, as the depreciated thaler was persistently minted. There resulted accordingly, in Saxony, a double system of "good" and "bad" money, with a difference of something like 25 per cent. between them. To increase the confusion there was for a time a difference between the practice of Lower Saxony and Electoral Saxony. The former, Lower Saxony, had in 1610 adopted the following system:—
| Reichs thaler | = 28 groschen. | |
| Reichs gulden thaler of 1559 | = 24 " | |
| Philipps thaler | = 30 2⁄3 " | |
| Silver groschen, | = 234 to the mark, 14 loth, 4 grs. fine. | |
| " schillingen, | = 306 " | |
| (So that the mark of fine silver = 12 fl. 9 kr.) | ||
Finding it impossible to maintain this system, they altered it in 1617, and finally in 1622 conformed with Higher Saxony, setting the Reichs thaler at 24 silver groschens.
As settled in this and the following year, the system of Electoral and Lower Saxony was as follows:—