1/2 Schilling

Stralsund's early sixteenth-century fractional coinage was produced under the peculiar financial autonomy the city maintained as a member of the Hanseatic League — a trading bloc whose member cities often functioned more like sovereign monetary authorities than municipal governments. The mint operated under city council oversight, and small silver fractions like this were the workhorse of everyday Baltic commerce, passing through the hands of merchants, fishermen, and dockworkers alike.

The fourteen-year striking window suggests continuous demand rather than a single authorized issue, likely reflecting incremental council decisions to replenish circulating stock as pieces were lost to trade networks stretching from Lübeck to Riga.