1 Pfennig 'Sargpfennig'

The "Sargpfennig" — coffin pfennig — takes its name from the distinctive bracteat-style shape that medieval handling and wear produced: the thin silver fabric folding and curling at the edges until the coin resembled a miniature casket. Halberstadt's episcopal mint had long dominated regional coinage, but by the late 14th century the city itself had won sufficient autonomy to strike civic issues, and these small pfennigs circulated heavily through the Harz foothills trading networks for well over a century.