1 Pfennig

Nuremberg's pfennig coinage of this period reflects the city's precarious position during the early stages of the Thirty Years' War — Swedish and Imperial armies both operated in Franconia, and civic finances were under sustained strain from garrison costs and tribute demands. Small billon issues like this one were struck in quantity to keep local trade moving when silver fled hoarding. The city's mint was among the most productive municipal operations in the Empire, and Nuremberg jealously defended its minting privileges against repeated Imperial encroachment throughout the seventeenth century.