Grossus Albus Public Deposited
A billon coin current in Germany and the Low Countries in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was common in Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Hessen, and the Palatinate, and gradually replaced the older Turnosgroschen.
The name Grossus Albus, or Weissgroschen was given to these coins on account of their white appearance, due to the silver of which they were composed, and which compared favorable with other coins of the same era.
An even earlier coin was the Denarius Albus, or Weisspfennig. It is frequently mentioned in records of the Middle Ages, and owes its name to its white, shiny appearance. Both of these coins are more or less synonymous with the French Blanc, the Spanish Blanco, the Italian Bianco, and the Witten Penninc of the Low Countries.
The later issues of the Albus, however, hardly deserved the name, as gradually more and more copper was added to their material, and their color naturally became darker. See Raderalbus, and Reichsalbus.
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)