Pfennig - Frederick III

Frederick III of the Duchy of Styria — not to be confused with the later Holy Roman Emperor of the same name — ruled during a period when the Habsburg consolidation of the Austrian duchies was still contested and administratively fragmented. Regional pfennig coinage of this type was struck under ducal rather than imperial authority, reflecting the degree to which monetary production remained decentralized across the Habsburg lands well into the fourteenth century. The broad flan relative to the coin's negligible weight is characteristic of the bracteate-influenced pfennig tradition that persisted in Styria long after it had faded elsewhere.