The 1621 date places this issue squarely at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that immediately disrupted trade networks across the Holy Roman Empire and made the free circulation of reliable gold coinage both politically fraught and commercially vital. Zürich, as a Reformed city-state with economic ties running north into the Rhineland, had strong incentive to maintain a credible gold currency at exactly this moment.
Freeberg's reference Fr#431 covers a relatively tight series, and survivors in better condition are infrequent — not because mintages were low by intent, but because goldgulden of this type moved through merchant hands and across borders rather than sitting in domestic hoards.
The 1621 date places this issue squarely at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that immediately disrupted trade networks across the Holy Roman Empire and made the free circulation of reliable gold coinage both politically fraught and commercially vital. Zürich, as a Reformed city-state with economic ties running north into the Rhineland, had strong incentive to maintain a credible gold currency at exactly this moment.
Freeberg's reference Fr#431 covers a relatively tight series, and survivors in better condition are infrequent — not because mintages were low by intent, but because goldgulden of this type moved through merchant hands and across borders rather than sitting in domestic hoards.