Hohlblaffert Öffentlichkeit Deposited
A base silver coin of the value of three Kreuzer or six Rappen, introduced in Switzerland in the fifteenth century, and a variety of St. Gallen dated 1424 (Frey No. 21), is the earliest coin known bearing Arabic numerals with a Christian era.
The type was soon copied in Germany. The Hohlblaffert of L?beek bears an eagle, that of Mecklenburg a bull's head, that of L?neburg a lion, etc. All of the preceding were valued at two Pfennige. In the Rhine Provinces the Blaffert was variously computed at three Stuber or four Albus. It was gradually abolished in the sixteenth century, the Batzen taking its place.
An amusing story occurs in Calm's M?tnz and Geldgeschichte der im GrossherzogtumBaden Vereinigten Gebiete, 1911 (p. 274), relating to a quarrel between the municipalities of Constance and Berne because a nobleman of the former town ridiculed these coins by the name of Kuhplapperte, i.e., " cow plapparts. "
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)