20 Kreuzer

Obwalden was among the smallest and most rural of the Swiss Forest Cantons, with virtually no indigenous silver supply and a monetary system dependent on imported bullion and foreign specie. The 1726–1734 emission of this denomination coincides with a period when the Swiss cantons were aggressively asserting their right to strike independent coinage despite pressure from neighboring powers and the loose monetary conventions of the Confederation. Obwalden's output was modest by any measure, and surviving pieces with clean surfaces are scarce — the canton's coins circulated hard in a cash-poor agricultural economy.