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Pfennig 'Vierzipfliger'
| Issuer | Habsburg-Laufenburg, Counts of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1250-1270 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.37 g |
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| Obverse description | A lion rampant to the left with head turned back, jaws open and snapping at its own tail, which is drawn upward between the hind legs; the figure is rendered in high relief in a bold, archaic style characteristic of medieval south German bracteate-related coinage. The design is enclosed within a beaded border. The flan exhibits the characteristic four-pinched outline of the Vierzipfliger type. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Vierzipfliger — "four-cornered" — takes its name from the characteristic clipping pattern produced when the bracteate-thin flan was cut from a strip, leaving four pointed projections at the cardinal points. Habsburg-Laufenburg was a collateral line of the early Habsburgs, controlling the Rhine crossing at Laufenburg, and their pfennig issues of this period reflect the fragmented monetary authority typical of the Upper Rhine in the mid-thirteenth century, where toll rights and minting privileges were inseparable commercial instruments. The county line itself was extinguished by 1408 when the territories reverted to the main Habsburg line.