Tympf
{{Short description|Low-grade silver coin}}
The Tympf (rarely Timpf, {{langx | pl | tymf}} or {{lang | pl | tynf}}
{{cite book
|last1 = Hazlitt
|first1 = William Carew
|author-link1 = William Carew Hazlitt
|year = 1893
|chapter = Catalogue of European Denominations
|title = The Coinage of the European Continent: With an Introduction and Catalogues of Mints Denominations and Rulers
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0ywDAAAAYAAJ
|volume = 1
|publication-place = London
|publisher = Swan Sonnenschein
|page = 240
|access-date = 27 January 2025
|quote = Tynf, or tymf = 18 Polish groschen, a billon coin of Poland and Prussia, 18th c., and the name of certain pieces struck by Elizabeth of Russia during her occupation of part of Prussia, 1759-62. The Polish tynfs were struck by Augustus III at Leipsic.
}}
) was a low-grade silver coin used in Poland-Lithuania, Brandenburg-Prussia, and Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
History
The coin was first struck in 1663 in Bromberg (present-day Bydgoszcz) in Polish Prussia by mint-master Andreas Tympf, for whom the coin takes its name.{{Cite book |first=Marian |last=Szulc |url =http://worldcat.org/oclc/165739497 |title =Wielka historia Polski |date =2001 |publisher =Kraków |isbn =83-86651-36-9 |pages =t. XIII: R-Ż |oclc =165739497}}{{Cite book |last =Fengler |first =Heinz |title= Transpress Lexikon der Numismatik |publisher =Transpress Berlin |year =1976 |isbn =9783344002206 |location =Berlin |language =de}} The nominal value was initially 30 groschen, but it soon dropped to 18 groschen due to the low silver content.{{Cite book |last =Kahnt |first=Helmut |url =https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61132800 |title =Das grosse Münzlexikon von A bis Z |publisher =Gietl |year =2005 |isbn =3-924861-84-6 |edition= |location =Regenstauf |language =de |oclc =61132800}}
Tympfe were also minted in Brandenburg-Prussia from around 1685.{{Citation |last=Wermter |first=Ernst Manfred |title =Das Königliche Preußen (Preußen königlich-polnischen Anteils) 1454 bis 1569 mit dem Hochstift Ermland und den drei großen Städten Danzig, Elbing und Thorn — Innerer Aufbau und das Verhältnis zur Krone Polen |date =1983-12-31 |url =http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110859515-010 |work =Ständetum und Staatsbildung in Brandenburg-Preußen |pages =129–152 |place =Berlin, Boston |publisher =De Gruyter |doi =10.1515/9783110859515-010 |isbn =9783110859515 |access-date =2022-05-18|url-access =subscription }}
After the Electors of Saxony took over the Polish royal crown in 1688, many tympfe in the Leipzig mint were struck as 18-groschen pieces. The Prussian King Frederick II, who had conquered the city in the Seven Years' War, discontinued minting in 1765.
The Russian tsars minted tympfe in the Polish-Lithuanian territories they occupied from 1707 to 1709 during the Northern War and from 1759 to 1761 during the Seven Years' War.
There were other mints in Königsberg and Stettin.
After the partitions of Poland of 1772-1795, the coin was soon replaced by other currencies. A total of around six million of these coins were issued, fetching over two million guilders.{{Cite book |date =1970-12-31 |editor-last =Schrötter |editor-first =Friedrich von |editor2-last =Bauer |editor2-first =N. |editor3-last =Regling |editor3-first =K. |editor4-last =Suhle |editor4-first =A. |editor5-last =Vasmer |editor5-first =R. |editor6-last =Wilcke |editor6-first =J. |title =Wörterbuch der Münzkunde |url =http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110830552 |doi =10.1515/9783110830552|isbn=978-3-11-001227-9 }}
Because of its low value, especially in the years before the partition of Poland, the tympf was considered in Poland as a symbol of the poor state of the country. There is a saying: {{lang | pl | Dobry żart tymfa wart}} (A good joke is worth a tympf).
Literature
Friedrich von Schrötter (ed.) with N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer, J. Wilcke: Dictionary of numismatics. De Gruyter, Berlin 1970 (reprint of the original 1930 edition). p. 247