What is Ober-Hussen?

[B.J.]

At the end of the Standard Catalog of World Coins entry for Hesse-
Cassel in the 18th and 19th century books there is an entry for "Ober-
Hussen". The only description in the SCWC is "regional coinage".

Does anyone know what the region was and why it had a separate
coinage?

I've tried searching on Hesse rulers and history and didn't notice
anything that appeared related to Ober-Hussen. The Schŏn catalog lists
the 18th century coins under the section Hessen-Kassel/Marburg,
Frankenberg, Kirchhain -- I searched those name and found some eBay
auctions but nothing I could identify as history related to the time
frame of the regional coinage.

[Mr. Jaggers]

B.J. wrote:
> At the end of the Standard Catalog of World Coins entry for Hesse-
> Cassel in the 18th and 19th century books there is an entry for "Ober-
> Hussen". The only description in the SCWC is "regional coinage".
>
> Does anyone know what the region was and why it had a separate
> coinage?
>
> I've tried searching on Hesse rulers and history and didn't notice

> anything that appeared related to Ober-Hussen. The Schon catalog lists

> the 18th century coins under the section Hessen-Kassel/Marburg,
> Frankenberg, Kirchhain -- I searched those name and found some eBay
> auctions but nothing I could identify as history related to the time
> frame of the regional coinage.

Actually, it's Ober-Hessen, a/k/a Uber-Hessen. This is indeed one of those
situations where "You can't tell the players without a program."

It is mentioned in this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesse

You could probably spend an entire week poring over this site:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Location_maps_of_German_states#Kleinstaaterei

On the dedicated provincial map that I picked up at the train station in
Kassel some years back, the name Ober-Hessen is overprinted almost
dead-center north-to-south and east-to-west, although the name has lost its
historical meaning to modern Germans, and is more or less the equivalent of
American terms such as the "Midwest." Everybody knows where it is, but
nobody knows its exact boundaries or why it is considered a separate entity.
Add to this that Germany continued in its medieval fiefdom paradigm up until
unification, and it would not be at all surprising if some local potentate
demanded his own "regional" coinage.

If you have a Craig catalog, you will find the listings for Hesse-Cassel
interrupted at intervals to show those for Ober-Hessen, and this continued
through several reigns. At one point the coins were marked with the name
Kurhessen. Craig's headings for them read, "Coinage for Ober Hessen, Hanau,
and Fulda." Locate those towns on a modern map and you will have an idea
where Ober-Hessen was.

James, whose maternal grandfather came from there in 1884.

[B.J.]

On Nov 16, 10:34 am, "Mr. Jaggers" <lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com>
wrote:

> It is mentioned in this article:

Thanks for the information, and the links to investigate.