1 Pfennig - Ernest I

Ernest I ruled Bavaria-Munich jointly with his brother Wilhelm III following the division of Wittelsbach lands, a dynastic fragmentation that produced a bewildering array of regional pfennig issues across the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. These small bracteate-style pfennigs circulated in a monetary environment saturated with competing local coinages, many of debased or uncertain silver content, making regional recognition and trust a persistent problem for everyday exchange.

At 0.54 g, the silver content was already a fraction of earlier pfennig standards — a long debasement trend that had been grinding down since the mid-1300s.