In the 14th and 15th centuries in the Old Empire, there were effective monetary unions based on agreements among individual princes and cities. In 1348 the Rhenish Coinage Union was formed by the four Rhenish electors, followed by the Wendish Coinage Union of the four Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Lüneburg, Hamburg, and Wismar, after Hamburg and Lübeck had already entered into a monetary union in 1255, which lasted until 1873 [4]. Along the Upper Rhine, the Rappenmünzbund (“Rappen Coinage Federation”) was formed around 1400 [3]. Coinage unions in Swabia, the Lake Constance …