Theodorich (or Dietrich I) of Basel held the bishopric during a period when the right to strike coin in the upper Rhine region was fiercely contested between episcopal and imperial authority. These thin bracteate-style pfennigs — the name literally means "thin penny" — were produced at a moment when Basel's mint was asserting itself as a serious regional monetary presence under Salian imperial patronage. The fabric is notoriously fragile, and surviving examples free of cracks or edge losses are genuinely uncommon.
Theodorich (or Dietrich I) of Basel held the bishopric during a period when the right to strike coin in the upper Rhine region was fiercely contested between episcopal and imperial authority. These thin bracteate-style pfennigs — the name literally means "thin penny" — were produced at a moment when Basel's mint was asserting itself as a serious regional monetary presence under Salian imperial patronage. The fabric is notoriously fragile, and surviving examples free of cracks or edge losses are genuinely uncommon.