Goldgulden

Bern's goldgulden issues of the sixteenth century were struck under the authority of the city council, which jealously guarded its minting rights as a marker of cantonal independence within the loose framework of the Confederation. By 1539, Bern had long since established itself as the dominant power in the western Swiss Eidgenossenschaft, and the continued production of high-quality gold coinage reinforced that economic reach into Burgundian and Savoyard trading networks. The HMZ 2-169 type is among the scarcer documented Bernese gold issues of this decade, with surviving examples concentrated in Swiss institutional collections.