Dicken - Niklaus Schiner

Niklaus Schiner held the see of Sion from 1496 until his death in 1499, a tenure too short to produce a large coinage. His nephew Matthäus Schiner — the future cardinal who would drag the Swiss Confederation into the Italian Wars on the papal side — was already maneuvering politically during these years, and the Bishopric's alliance networks were shifting accordingly. The Valais was far from a backwater: Sion controlled the Simplon route into Italy, and the bishop's right to strike silver reflected genuine economic leverage over trans-Alpine trade.

Three years in production, at most.