3 Pfennig

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.