batz

From German Batz, Batze, Batzen (“a coin bearing the image of a bear”).

batz (plural batzes or batzen)

1. (historical) A small copper coin, with a mixture of silver, formerly current in some parts of Germany and Switzerland.
   • 1874, John Ruskin, “Letter xliv”, in Fors Clavigera: Letters to the Workmen and Labourers of Great Britain, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, volume IV, OCLC 3852549, page 166; quoted in “Varieties. Mr. Ruskin on Railway Travelling.”, in W. H. Bidwell, editor, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art (New Series), New York, N.Y.: E. R. Pelton, publisher, 108 Fulton Street, October 1874, volume XX, issue 4, OCLC 261231920, page 510:

     In old times, if a Coniston peasant had any business at Ulverstone, he walked to Ulverstone; spent nothing but shoe-leather on the road, drank at the streams, and if he spent a couple of batz when he got to Ulverstone, "it was the end of the world." But now, he would never think of doing such a thing! He first walks three miles in a contrary direction, to a railroad station, and then travels by railroad twenty-four miles to Ulverstone, paying two shillings fare.