Heller

Bytom's civic coinage of this period reflects the city's position within the Duchy of Opole — a fragmented Silesian territory changing hands repeatedly between Polish, Bohemian, and Hungarian spheres of influence throughout the early fifteenth century. Municipal issues like this heller circulated locally precisely because ducal coinage was unreliable in supply. Kop. 8597 is among the scarcer Silesian civic hellers, with surviving examples concentrated in Polish institutional collections following excavations of hoards near Upper Silesian trade routes.