In the Digest of 5 September Alan Fox asked for information about the
"Heller" coin.  My encyclopedia gives the following information:

  HELLER, originally the name of the silver Pfennig, minted since the
  12th century at the Imperial Mint at Hall (in Schwaben, a region in
  Germany).  On the front of the heller an opened hand is shown, on the
  back a cross is shown.

  In later days heller coins were made also elsewhere in the southern
  and western regions of Germany.  From the 16th century up to 1873 the
  heller in many German states was the smallest copper coin, worth 0.5
  Pfennig or 0.125 Kreuzer.  In the Austrian-Hungarian state the name
  "Heller" was given, in 1892, for a coin with the value of 0.01 Krone.
  This name still is used in Czechoslovakia (Haler), and Hungary
  (filler, the e = e with accent-grave).

This is what my encyclopedia tells.  I would add some points:

The fact that the heller no longer was minted after 1873 is because
around that time Otto Bismarck succeeded in arranging a kind of "United
States of Germany", and one of the results was a unified set of coins.
The official golden coin of the Germans became the golden Mark (1871).
This took up to 1907.  In that year the silver Taler officially was taken
out of circulation.

The Mark was divided into 100 Pfennige.  In the above mentioned year 1873
it was declared that all other different silver and copper coins, amongst
them the Heller, should also be replaced by Marks and Pfennige.

The Penny shares its name with Pfennig.  And of course there is a common
root:  the Denarius.  So the circle is closed.

I have no idea, whatsoever, of the approximate value of the "Heller" in
1900.  However, since it was a copper coin, I guess it can be compared
with one or two pennies.

Jan Kijlstra

 [ Both German and English have the expression, "I'm down to my last
 [ cent/heller," so it can't be worth much!  Besides, it's nice if the
 [ music box can be played by a child who has only a few small-value
 [ coins in his pocket.  Thanks for your nice reports tonight, Jan.
 [  -- Robbie