Catalog
1 Heller
| Issuer | Nuremberg, Free imperial city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1443 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Heller (1/2) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field bearing the initial 'N' for Nuremberg in Gothic script, surmounted by a small six-pointed star or mullet above the letter. The design is rendered in low relief typical of hammered bracteate-style pfennig coinage, set against a plain, irregularly shaped flan with a naturally uneven edge characteristic of hand-struck medieval small silver. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Nuremberg's heller coinage of the fifteenth century occupied an awkward economic niche — too small in silver content for serious commerce, yet essential for daily wage payments and small market transactions in one of the Holy Roman Empire's most commercially active cities. By 1443, the city council exercised near-complete control over its mint, having gradually wrested monetary autonomy from the burgraves over the preceding century. At this weight, the coin's silver content was marginal even by contemporary standards, and periodic municipal ordinances attempted to regulate the flood of underweight imitations entering Nuremberg from surrounding territories.