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Batzen
| Issuer | City of Basel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1762 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The heraldic crozier (the arms of Basel), depicted as a stylized bishop's staff with a crosshatched shaft and voluted head, is displayed centrally within an elaborate Baroque cartouche composed of bold acanthus-leaf scrollwork. The cartouche fills the field nearly to the milled edge, with no surrounding legend. The design is rendered in a vigorous late-Baroque style characteristic of Swiss cantonal coinage of the mid-eighteenth century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Basel's billon batzen issues of the mid-eighteenth century reflect the chronic small-change problem plaguing Swiss city-states, where the fragmentation of monetary authority among dozens of cantons and free cities made interoperability a persistent headache. The batzen denomination itself — coined across much of the Confederation and surrounding territories — was frequently debased by competing mints, creating a race to the bottom that Basel's magistrates were not above joining.
HMZ 2#105b distinguishes this specific die pairing within the broader 105 series. Worth confirming the edge treatment, as Basel batzen of this decade show variation between plain and milled that occasionally causes misattribution in trade.