½ Goldgulden

Basel struck its own gold coinage under imperial privilege, and by 1640 the city was navigating the final chaotic years of the Thirty Years' War — a conflict that had devastated much of the surrounding region while leaving the city itself largely intact and commercially active. The half goldgulden denomination served the city's merchant class at a moment when cross-border trade required portable, recognizable gold.

KM#95 is a scarce type; Basel's gold output was never large, and half-denomination strikes were produced in far smaller quantities than full gulden.