Meran Zwanziger / Kreuzer - Meinhard II Méran

Meinhard II was the architect of Tyrolean territorial consolidation, and the Meran Zwanziger was central to that project. By establishing a reliable silver coinage at Merano — then the county's administrative heart — he gave merchants crossing the Brenner a currency stable enough to displace the older Veronese and Aquileian issues that had dominated Alpine trade. The type ran for the entirety of his reign, which is why specimens show such dramatic variation in die quality and silver fineness within the nominal .850 standard.