Basel's goldgulden issues of the mid-eighteenth century occupy an unusual position in Swiss municipal coinage — the city struck gold on its own authority well past the point when most comparable free cities had ceded such rights to territorial or cantonal powers. By 1750, Basel's commercial wealth, anchored in its Rhine trade and textile industries, still justified the expense of maintaining an independent gold coinage, though the series would not continue much longer before economic consolidation made it unviable.
The HMZ 2#95b designation distinguishes this from closely related die varieties in the sequence documented by Winter.
Basel's goldgulden issues of the mid-eighteenth century occupy an unusual position in Swiss municipal coinage — the city struck gold on its own authority well past the point when most comparable free cities had ceded such rights to territorial or cantonal powers. By 1750, Basel's commercial wealth, anchored in its Rhine trade and textile industries, still justified the expense of maintaining an independent gold coinage, though the series would not continue much longer before economic consolidation made it unviable.
The HMZ 2#95b designation distinguishes this from closely related die varieties in the sequence documented by Winter.