Batzen Klippe, 4 batzens weight

Klippe coinage in Zürich was produced almost exclusively for presentation and gift-giving rather than general circulation — these square-cut pieces were favored as New Year's gifts among the city's merchant and guild elite, and survival rates are consequently higher than equivalent round strikes from the same dies. The 1639 date places this squarely within the disruption of the Thirty Years' War, during which Swiss cities maintained careful monetary independence while their neighbors debased aggressively. Zürich held its silver standards exceptionally well through this period.