1/2 Gulden/30 Kreuzer - Maximilian II Prague

Maximilian II inherited Bohemia in 1564 and faced immediate pressure to regularize the wildly fragmented coinage circulating across the kingdom. The half gulden denominated at 30 kreuzer occupied an awkward position in the monetary hierarchy — large enough to matter for trade, small enough to circulate widely — and the Prague mint struck these across a narrow three-year window before monetary reforms shifted production priorities.

MB#180 is a scarce attribution. Prague output for this denomination in the late 1560s was modest, and surviving pieces show considerable variation in die workmanship consistent with multiple engravers working concurrently at the mint.