Meaning of LXXVIII on Cologne 8 Heller?

Hello all, I have been looking at a lot of early modern German coins lately, and this one looked peculiar. On one side it says VIII, signifying 8 Heller; on the other side it says LXXVIII (78). A similar issue from 1605-1609 had LXXIIII (74) instead. What could this number signify?

According to Wikipedia, typically 576 Heller would be worth one Thaler, so 8 Hellers would then be 1/72 of a Thaler as Numista says. Printing the fraction of a Thaler the coin is worth seems to be common in this era. So is it possible that at that time and place, the coin was worth 1/78th of a Thaler?

Could be the foot

1 Reichstaler = 78 Albus

Wiki:
Following the coinage decree on the conversion of foreign currencies issued by Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm on September 1, 1620, the following values were established for the Duchies of Jülich-Berg: 1 Reichstaler = 78 Albus; 1 Albus = 12 Heller.

From a neighbouring duchy.

the dates in Roman numerals 

Offa

the dates in Roman numerals 

The date is already there on the border ring, in the sample picture it says “630” for 1630 (and “609” on the older one, for 1609)

You see heller debasing during significant emotional events in 17th century Europe.

Archbishop had it at 74 twenty years earlier.

N#328712

Heller was not regulated by imperial coinage standards and regulations were loose when people were fighting on where to store pickled herrings and in which language they should address their lord.

We might have to find fineness and weight of 74/78 coins to figure out their silver content and ratio to thaler.

Idolenz

Could be the foot

1 Reichstaler = 78 Albus

 

Wiki:
Following the coinage decree on the conversion of foreign currencies issued by Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm on September 1, 1620, the following values were established for the Duchies of Jülich-Berg: 1 Reichstaler = 78 Albus; 1 Albus = 12 Heller.

From a neighbouring duchy.

This is correct, these coins were known as „Fettmännchen“ locally to distinguish them from another coin circulating around the same time known as „Fett….“ (I can’t remember the actual name (maybe Fettmonach?)), which was a half or quarter of something (but half the value) from one of the states further east from this location - which is sort of the Niederrhein area, Jülich-Berg, Kleve, Köln and Aachen, maybe Essen also I think (so modern day Nordrhein-westfälische Rheinland from Duisburg/Essen down the Rhein to Düsseldorf, Köln & Aarchen, then the area to the West of the Rhein to the Netherlands/Belgium borders.

The 8 Heller was originally 1/74 of a Taler, 74 Albus making 1 Taler, but this soon devalued, to 1/78 and later 1/120 as the the silver content went from about 0.220 to 0.120 within the 8 Heller (or billon coins) over a 100 years or so from 1604 to 1700 and something. Not all states wrote on the coin both values, so they often stayed as just 8 Heller - I think there might be a 10 Heller with 94 on the opposite side also (same monetary system but different values), the coin I guess would be a smaller higher silver content coin compared to the billon coin of 8 Hellers. I think the 4 and 2 where just copper.
 

So yes, an 8 Heller was worth 1 Albus, and however many Albuses made up the Taler was also written on some coins in this case 78 (LXXVIII) because of the ca 0.200 amount of silver content.

Also fun fact; Heller comes from the word Haller / Häller,  which was the base unit of the currency of Schwäbisch Häll about 500 years earlier than these coins, for some reason the name transferred and was used in the Niederrhein area, as well as in Bavaria.