Albert V ruled Bavaria during a period of acute confessional tension, and his silver coinage of the early 1560s was issued partly to assert fiscal authority as Lutheran reform pressed hard against Catholic princely territories. The Kreuzersystem itself had been a fractional accounting convenience since the fifteenth century, but Albert's mints at Munich standardized the type aggressively during these years to undercut the flood of debased foreign small silver crossing into Bavarian markets.
Hahn 40 is among the more tractable attributions in this run — die linkages across the 1560–1565 span are well-documented enough that date attribution is usually possible from surviving examples.
Albert V ruled Bavaria during a period of acute confessional tension, and his silver coinage of the early 1560s was issued partly to assert fiscal authority as Lutheran reform pressed hard against Catholic princely territories. The Kreuzersystem itself had been a fractional accounting convenience since the fifteenth century, but Albert's mints at Munich standardized the type aggressively during these years to undercut the flood of debased foreign small silver crossing into Bavarian markets.
Hahn 40 is among the more tractable attributions in this run — die linkages across the 1560–1565 span are well-documented enough that date attribution is usually possible from surviving examples.