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Pfennig 'Vierzipfliger'
| Issuer | Fraumünster, Abbey of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1301-1400 |
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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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | As a typical hammered bracteate-style pfennig of this series, the reverse presents an incuse or weakly impressed mirror image of the obverse design, a characteristic feature of thin medieval silver pfennigs struck with a single working die on a thin flan. The surface shows the natural flow lines and flan irregularities consistent with hand-cut silver blanks of 14th-century ecclesiastical mint production at Zurich. |
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| Additional information |
The Fraumünster in Zürich held minting rights granted originally by Louis the German in 853, making it one of the longer-running ecclesiastical minting authorities in the German-speaking lands. By the fourteenth century, however, the abbey's monetary autonomy was increasingly contested by the growing civic power of Zürich itself, and these small bracteate-style pfennigs represent the tail end of meaningful independent production before the city effectively absorbed control of local coinage.
The "Vierzipfliger" designation refers to the four-cornered or four-pointed flan shape — a clipping convention that distinguishes this type within the HMZ series.