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3 Pfennig

Issuer Coesfeld, City of
Year 1578
Type Standard circulation coin
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Reverse description The Roman numeral III, denoting the three-Pfennig denomination, displayed within a circular cartouche framed by elaborate foliate and scrollwork ornamentation. A crown surmounts the decorative surround at the top, and the entire composition is enclosed within a beaded border. The ornamental style reflects the Renaissance decorative vocabulary typical of late 16th-century Westphalian municipal coinage.
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Reverse lettering III
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Additional information

Coesfeld, a Westphalian town within the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, issued small copper pfennig denominations during a period when the chronic shortage of low-value imperial coinage forced municipal authorities across the region to produce their own emergency currency. The late sixteenth century saw dozens of minor Westphalian towns authorized — or simply compelled by circumstance — to strike local copper to keep petty commerce functioning.

Weinmeister's Westfalen reference 138a distinguishes this from closely related municipal issues of the same period. The copper fabric typical of Coesfeld civic coinage from this decade tends to survive with significant oxidation.

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