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Pfennig 'Schwanhälser Vierzipfliger'
| Issuer | Habsburg-Laufenburg, Counts of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1350-1400 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round with 4 pinches |
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| Obverse description | A stylized swan's neck and head rendered in bold relief within a plain inner circle, the beak holding a small ring. Two pellets are positioned in the left field and a single pellet with a ring appears in the right field, serving as heraldic decorative elements. The design is characteristic of late medieval South German bracteate-influenced coinage, with a fluid, almost abstract treatment of the swan motif. The flan displays the distinctive four-pinched outline typical of the Vierzipfliger series. |
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| Mintage | ND (1350-1400) |
| Additional information |
The Schwanhälser Vierzipfliger — named for its distinctive four-pointed flan rather than any later collector fancy — was struck by the Habsburg-Laufenburg line, a collateral branch that had split from the main Habsburg dynasty following the 1238 partition of family territories. By the mid-fourteenth century this branch was in chronic financial difficulty, gradually alienating its holdings to the senior Austrian line. The irregular, bracteate-adjacent fabric of these tiny pfennigs reflects local Rhenish minting conventions rather than any Austrian imperial standard.
The Laufenburg mint itself sat on a Rhine island, jurisdiction divided almost comically between the two halves of the town — one Swiss, one German — a division that persists to this day.