Konstanz issued this small silver piece in 1622, deep into the currency chaos of the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the "clipper and see-saw" inflation crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623. Municipal and territorial mints across the Empire debased their coinage aggressively, flooding circulation with underweight small denominations while hoarding full-weight coins. Konstanz, as a Free Imperial City on the Bodensee, maintained its own minting rights and struck issues like this Zweier partly to meet local demand when reliable coin simply disappeared from trade.
The Kipper period saw over a hundred minting authorities exploiting the system simultaneously, making attribution of small silver from this era genuinely difficult.
Konstanz issued this small silver piece in 1622, deep into the currency chaos of the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the "clipper and see-saw" inflation crisis that swept the Holy Roman Empire between roughly 1619 and 1623. Municipal and territorial mints across the Empire debased their coinage aggressively, flooding circulation with underweight small denominations while hoarding full-weight coins. Konstanz, as a Free Imperial City on the Bodensee, maintained its own minting rights and struck issues like this Zweier partly to meet local demand when reliable coin simply disappeared from trade.
The Kipper period saw over a hundred minting authorities exploiting the system simultaneously, making attribution of small silver from this era genuinely difficult.