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Angster
| Issuer | City of Zürich |
|---|---|
| Year | 1424 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Uniface bracteate featuring a veiled bust of the abbess in left profile, rendered in low relief within a plain inner circle. The letter 'Z' appears in the left field, while a superimposed 'I' over 'V' occupies the right field, and a small star is positioned above the bust. The design is characteristic of late medieval Swiss bracteate coinage, with the figural motif struck in shallow relief against a plain flan. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Uniface issue; the reverse displays the incuse mirror impression of the obverse design, a feature inherent to the bracteate striking technique in which a single die produces a raised obverse image and its corresponding recessed imprint on the reverse. |
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| Additional information |
The Angster was Zürich's smallest silver denomination, struck to meet the chronic shortage of low-value coinage that plagued Swiss city-states throughout the early fifteenth century. Municipal minting rights, jealously guarded and frequently contested between cities, bishops, and the Habsburg administration, gave Zürich the authority to flood local markets with these tiny pieces — which it did, aggressively, through much of the 1400s.
The HMZ 2#1114d attribution places this within a closely grouped series distinguished by minor die variations that Hürlimann catalogued with unusual precision for the period.