16 Groschen - Gustav

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was among the smallest of the Rhenish Westphalian counties still exercising independent minting rights in the 1670s, and those rights were perpetually contested. This 16-Groschen piece was struck under Gustav, whose house clung to coinage privileges partly as a matter of jurisdictional prestige rather than economic necessity — the county's output was too small to meaningfully supply regional circulation. By the end of the century, most such minor imperial counts had been effectively squeezed out of independent silver coinage altogether.