4 Schilling

Hamburg's 4 Schilling pieces of this period were struck under the authority of the city's own mint, which the Senate jealously guarded as a privilege of the Free City's status within the Holy Roman Empire. The denomination sat awkwardly in daily commerce — too valuable for small transactions, not heavy enough for serious mercantile settling — and Hamburg's trade economy at the time increasingly favored the larger Speziesreichstaler for wholesale exchange.

KM#359 spans fourteen years and likely multiple die marriages; collectors working this series have noted subtle variations in the eagle's rendering that suggest periodic re-engraving rather than a single working die run.