1/2 Thaler

Basel's half thalers of this period were struck under the authority of the city council at a time when Swiss civic mints were under sustained pressure to conform to the Reichstaler standard circulating across the Holy Roman Empire. Basel resisted full standardization longer than most — a function of its financial independence as a major Rhine trading hub and its deep entanglement with the Basel Fairs, which demanded reliable, locally trusted silver in quantity.

HMZ 2#80c places this precisely within the longer civic series; die linkages within this group remain incompletely documented.