Schaffhausen's long production run for this type — stretching across most of the seventeenth century — reflects the chronic small-change shortage that plagued Swiss cantons throughout the Thirty Years' War and its economic aftermath. Billon coinage of this denomination was workhorse currency, circulating hard across the Rhine trade routes that gave Schaffhausen much of its commercial relevance.
The HMZ reference places this within a well-documented cantonal series, but individual date assignments within the 1626–1698 span remain difficult without die study.
Schaffhausen's long production run for this type — stretching across most of the seventeenth century — reflects the chronic small-change shortage that plagued Swiss cantons throughout the Thirty Years' War and its economic aftermath. Billon coinage of this denomination was workhorse currency, circulating hard across the Rhine trade routes that gave Schaffhausen much of its commercial relevance.
The HMZ reference places this within a well-documented cantonal series, but individual date assignments within the 1626–1698 span remain difficult without die study.