1 Pfennig - John Christopher of Westerstetten arms in shield

1621 placed this issue squarely in the opening years of the Thirty Years' War, when the Bishopric of Eichstätt — a small ecclesiastical principality in present-day Bavaria — was scrambling to maintain functional small-denomination coinage as silver fled the region and copper became the practical metal of necessity. John Christopher of Westerstetten had been bishop since 1612 and was an aggressive participant in the Catholic League; his tenure saw Eichstätt drawn into the broader confessional conflict well before Swedish intervention changed the war's character after 1630.

Cahn's cataloging of Eichstätt coinage remains the specialist reference for this series, with KM#17 cross-referencing Ei#111.