1 Pfennig Gold pattern strike

Nuremberg's status as a Free Imperial City gave its mint unusual latitude to produce presentation and pattern pieces well into the eighteenth century, long after most German minting authorities had consolidated under territorial princes. This 1772 gold striking of the one Pfennig was almost certainly produced as a Schaustück — a show piece intended for gift exchange among civic officials or as a cabinet curiosity — rather than any proposed circulating issue. No gold Pfennig was ever a practical monetary proposition.

Kelln 401 is among the later documented patterns from the Nuremberg civic mint, which would lose its independent minting rights entirely just over two decades later following the city's mediatization in 1806.