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1 Grosspfennig
| Issuer | City of Greifswald (German States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1424-1425 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Central field displays a stylized griffin passant to the right, the heraldic symbol of the city of Greifswald, rendered in bold Gothic relief typical of early fifteenth-century north German municipal coinage. The creature is depicted with raised wings and extended claws, surrounded by a beaded inner circle. The peripheral legend in uncial Latin characters reads MONETA GRIPESWO, identifying the issuing city, interrupted by small decorative stars. The flan is irregularly shaped, as characteristic of hand-hammered medieval silver coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (1424-1425) |
| Additional information |
Greifswald's civic coinage of the 1420s reflects the city's position within the Hanseatic League at a moment when the League was pressing hard against Danish commercial dominance in the Baltic. Municipal mints like Greifswald issued their own small silver on civic authority precisely because Hanseatic trade demanded reliable local currency that merchants could trust across the network. The Grosspfennig denomination itself was a northern German adaptation — larger than the pfennig but below the schilling — calibrated for the everyday transactions of a port economy.
The two-year window of 1424–1425 is narrow enough to suggest a specific authorization rather than continuous production.