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1/4 Groschen
| Issuer | Aachen, Free imperial city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1496 |
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| Currency | Schilling (1373-1504) |
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| Obverse description | Facing figure of the Madonna holding the Christ Child, both depicted within a beaded inner circle. The composition is rendered in a Gothic medieval style typical of late 15th-century Rhenish coinage. Below the Madonna, the shield of the city of Aachen is placed at the base of the inner field. The surrounding legend reads AVE GRAC PLENA TEC, an abbreviated Marian invocation, running between the inner circle and the coin's outer rim. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | An ornate Gothic cross, elaborately decorated with flared terminals and foliate elements, occupies the central field within a beaded inner circle. The four digits of the date 1496 are divided and placed in the four angles formed by the arms of the cross. The peripheral legend MONETA VRBIS AQVENSIS, identifying this as a coin of the city of Aachen, runs between the inner circle and the outer rim, separated by pellet stops. |
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| Additional information |
Aachen's late 15th-century small silver coinage was deeply entangled in the city's ongoing disputes with the broader imperial monetary system. The 1496 date places this piece within the turbulent lead-up to the Reichsmünzordnung of 1524, when Aachen, as a free imperial city, was navigating its own minting privileges against mounting pressure to conform to centralised imperial standards. At 0.64g, the quarter Groschen sat at the practical lower limit of workable silver coinage — any lighter and the flan becomes too thin to strike cleanly.