Batzen

Schwyz was among the founding cantons of the Swiss Confederation, but by 1623 the political pressure to maintain independent coinage was as much about local revenue as cantonal pride. Billon issues like this one — debased silver carrying just enough precious metal to satisfy convention — were the workhorse currency of small Swiss states navigating the monetary fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire's periphery. The Thirty Years' War had begun just five years prior, and metal supplies across central Europe were already tightening.