1 Pfennig - Bernard I

Bernard I of Baden ruled the Margraviate during a period when the fragmentation of coinage rights across the Upper Rhine made small silver pfennigs like this one essential instruments of local exchange — and an assertion of territorial authority over subjects who might otherwise be using coins from Basel, Freiburg, or any number of competing ecclesiastical mints. The Breisgau region was monetarily contested territory throughout the early fifteenth century.

The Wielandt Breis. #30b classification places this among a well-documented but physically scarce class of bracteate-influenced pfennigs that saw heavy use and minimal hoarding.