Batzen Klippe, 2 batzens weight

Klippe — square-struck coins produced outside the standard round planchet process — were issued by Swiss mints almost exclusively for presentation and collection purposes by the seventeenth century. Zürich's 1640 klippe issues fall squarely into that category: ceremonial objects as much as coins, struck to commemorate civic occasions or distributed as gifts to visiting dignitaries. The Hürlimann catalog reference with the superscript KI designation confirms the klippe format as a deliberate production choice, not an accidental or emergency striking.