The Abbey of Saint Gall exercised temporal authority over its surrounding territories well into the late eighteenth century, minting its own coinage as a sovereign ecclesiastical prince. Beda Angehrn, who served as Prince-Abbot from 1767 until the abbey's secularization in 1805, oversaw one of its final active minting periods. The billon composition reflects the chronic silver shortage that plagued small German and Swiss states throughout this decade, forcing ecclesiastical mints toward debased alloys simply to keep fractional currency in circulation.
Production ceased by 1782 — fewer than three years of output before the dies were retired.
The Abbey of Saint Gall exercised temporal authority over its surrounding territories well into the late eighteenth century, minting its own coinage as a sovereign ecclesiastical prince. Beda Angehrn, who served as Prince-Abbot from 1767 until the abbey's secularization in 1805, oversaw one of its final active minting periods. The billon composition reflects the chronic silver shortage that plagued small German and Swiss states throughout this decade, forcing ecclesiastical mints toward debased alloys simply to keep fractional currency in circulation.
Production ceased by 1782 — fewer than three years of output before the dies were retired.