Catalog
1 Groschen Tournois
| Issuer | Free Imperial City of Frankfurt |
|---|---|
| Year | 1514-1522 |
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| Currency | Thaler |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A plain Greek cross centered within a beaded inner circle, evoking the Tournois gros tradition derived from the French royal coinage of Tours. The cross is surrounded by twelve ornate Gothic trefoil and fleur-de-lis lobes arranged in a quatrefoil-and-roundel pattern, characteristic of the Gros Tournois type. The abbreviated legend TVRON*FRAKF appears between the inner beaded circle and the outer lobe border, identifying the coin as a Tournois type struck at Frankfurt. |
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| Additional information |
Frankfurt's right to strike silver coinage was repeatedly contested during the early sixteenth century, with the city's mint privileges technically subordinate to the Archbishop of Mainz — a tension that shaped both the volume and timing of issues from this period. The Groschen Tournois type was a deliberate imitation of the French gros tournois, a denomination that had circulated so widely across the Rhineland trade networks that local merchants demanded equivalent-weight silver for commercial transactions.
The eight-year span of this issue likely reflects interrupted production rather than continuous striking.