Goldgulden

Bern's late 15th-century goldgulden was struck against the backdrop of the city's expanding territorial ambitions in the Burgundian Wars, during which the Confederation dismantled the power of Charles the Bold between 1474 and 1477. Municipal gold coinage of this period was as much a statement of fiscal independence from the Habsburgs as it was a commercial instrument, circulating alongside Rhenish gulden in the markets of the upper Rhine valley.

The HMZ 1#2-161a attribution covers the full production span, and distinguishing dies within that range requires close attention to minor punch variations in the shield and cross elements — a task complicated by Bern's inconsistent documentation of its late medieval mint operations.