Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Weißpfennig - Frederick III of Saarwerden
| Issuer | Archbishopric of Cologne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1378-1414 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The arms of the Archbishopric of Cologne — a shield bearing a cross with vertical bars, characteristic of the Cologne ecclesiastical blazon — displayed prominently at center within a cusped sexfoil frame. The shield is rendered in high relief with bold Gothic styling. A circular Latin legend surrounds the central device within a beaded border, the whole composition typical of Rhenish ecclesiastical coinage of the late 14th and early 15th centuries. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Frederick III of Saarwerden held the archbishopric for nearly four decades, a tenure marked by his persistent involvement in the dynastic conflicts of the lower Rhine. He was one of the four ecclesiastical electors who helped depose Wenceslaus as Holy Roman Emperor in 1400, a move that briefly consolidated considerable political leverage among the Rhenish princes. The Weißpfennig — "white penny," so called for its relatively high silver content giving the coin its pale surface — was the workhorse denomination of Cologne's regional monetary system during precisely this period of electoral maneuvering.
Noss distinguishes multiple die variants within this type across Frederick's long reign, making precise dating within the 1378–1414 window dependent on stylistic analysis of the specific die marriage.