Pfennig 'Vierzipfeliger Pfennig'

Solothurn's so-called "four-pointed" pfennig takes its name from the characteristic clipping technique used to produce it — a square flan rotated 45 degrees and struck, leaving four projecting corners rather than a round edge. This was not a design choice but a production shortcut, allowing the mint to skip the laborious process of rounding each blank.

Late 13th-century Swiss civic mints operated with considerable autonomy, and Solothurn's right to strike its own coinage was tied directly to its status as a free imperial city under Rudolf of Habsburg.