ABSTRACT
Sources: MCCUSKER [1978], pp. 73f. (1657-1697); ROSEVEARE (ed.) [1987], pp. 596-607 (16681680); IISG Amsterdam, Prys-Courant, Hamburg (1672); StA Hamburg, 111-1 Cl. VII Lit. Cb Nr. 4, vol. 9, Fasc. 28 (1687-1730); OBA Clausthal, Lüneburg – Salz Sachen, Saltz-Preiß 1, Prys-Courant, Hamburg (1689-1693); PRO London, XP 1211 C 104/128 Pt 2, Prys-Courant, Hamburg (16961698); CB Hamburg, S/653: Wechsel-Cours in Hamburg (Amtliche Geld-und Wechselkurse T. 1,2, Hamburg 1710-1913, T. 1: Amtliche Kurse für Wechsel, 1710-1724, 1781-1814); ibid., S/916, Bd. 2: Geld-und Wechsel-Course. 1721-1737 (1726-1735); ibid., 456/1 Preiscourant der Wahren in Partheyen (1737-1780); Hamburger Privilegierte Liste der Börsenhalle (1815-1874); Hamburger Correspondent (1834-1838). Concordance: WdW VI, pp. 193-222; HStD XII, pp. 147-191, 279f.; WdW I/III, pp. 301-337; HStD XI, pp. 137-191
Currency: Until February 1873, when the mark ‘Reichswährung’ as new standard currency of the German Empire became the basis of the Hamburg exchange rate quotations, the exchange rates in Hamburg were fixed in or for mark banco, rixdollars (in the 19th century ‘dollars’ or ‘thaler’) banco, exchange dollars (the so-called ‘Wechseltaler’) or their sub-units. In particular, the different Hamburg units of account, among which the mark banco was by far the most important (so that as a basic unit it is used for documenting the rate series), were connected in the following way:
The Hamburg currency system between the 17th and the 19th centuries:
sh. = shilling d. = pence or groot Flem. = Flemish Lub. = Lubish
The Hamburg bank money was the never-minted currency of account of the Hamburg banco, which was established in 1619 under the influence of Dutch merchants to stabilize the Hamburg currency and exchange. This bank money was based on the rixdollar or speciesthaler of 1566 at 25.98 grammes of fine silver: therefore the standard of coinage was de jure 9 rixdollar or – in Hamburg – 27 mark banco per mark of Cologne, but de facto 9 5/24 rixdollars or 27 5/8 mark banco per mark of Cologne (RITTMANN [1975], pp. 428f.). When Hamburg began to mint new coins according to the new Zinna standard of coinage (of 1667; 10½ rixdollars per mark of Cologne) in 1669, the city now had two different currencies: the ‘banco’, based on the speciesthaler, and the ‘courant’ as the city’s real means of payment, which was quoted with a significant discount against the banco. In the following decades this current money levelled off at a standard of coinage of 34 mark or 11 1/3 rixdollars per mark of Cologne (therefore 1 mark current was equival to 8.43 grammes of fine silver), and Lübeck, Holstein,
1 rixdollar = 1½ exchange dollars = 3 mark (banco) = 8 sh. Flem. = 48 sh. Lub. = 96 d. Flem. 1 exchange dollar = 2 mark (banco) = 5 1/3 sh. Flem. = 32 sh. Lub. = 64 d. Flem.
