Amberg, a prosperous mining town in the Upper Palatinate, began counterstamping foreign silver in the late 14th century as a practical measure to validate coinage for local circulation. The Prague Groschen — struck in enormous quantities under the Bohemian crown — flooded German markets during this period and required municipal authentication before towns would accept them at fixed values. The Amberg stamp, catalogued under Krusy's classification, is one of the more obscure civic countermarks of the period and appears on relatively few surviving host coins.
Amberg, a prosperous mining town in the Upper Palatinate, began counterstamping foreign silver in the late 14th century as a practical measure to validate coinage for local circulation. The Prague Groschen — struck in enormous quantities under the Bohemian crown — flooded German markets during this period and required municipal authentication before towns would accept them at fixed values. The Amberg stamp, catalogued under Krusy's classification, is one of the more obscure civic countermarks of the period and appears on relatively few surviving host coins.