1/2 Guldenthaler

Ulm's status as a Free Imperial City gave its council the right to mint silver coinage independently, a privilege jealously guarded and periodically contested by neighboring territorial lords. The half Guldenthaler sits in the transitional period when southern German cities were still negotiating the practical terms of the 1559 Augsburg Reichsmünzordnung, which had attempted to standardize imperial coinage but left substantial room for civic interpretation at the fractional level.

Nau's catalog of Ulm coinage remains the authoritative reference for this series, with Binder providing the earlier die-study framework on which Nau built.