Veitel-Heine Ephraim

Veitel Heine Ephraim was a jeweller, silk entrepreneur, mint master, and the chairman of the Jewish congregation in Berlin/Prussia. During the Seven Years' War, Frederick the Great devalued the Prussian coin five times in order to finance the war; debased coins were produced with the help from Ephraim and Daniel Itzig, and spread outside Prussia: in Saxony, Poland, and Kurland. Ephraim and his companion Itzig became infamous for adding copper, up to 70%, so as to debase the coins, which became known as Ephraimiten. Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann, Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, and Leendert Pieter de Neufville also cooperated in the debasement policy. The king's coinage policy became a key element of war financing.