Rappen

A gold Rappen from Basel in this weight class is an unusual instrument — the denomination was overwhelmingly a billon or silver matter, and gold strikes at this module were almost certainly presentation or donative pieces rather than anything that passed through a merchant's hand. Basel's mint authority in the early sixteenth century operated under significant tension with the Bishop of Basel, whose own coinage rights overlapped uncomfortably with those of the civic council, a dispute that sharpened considerably after the city formally joined the Swiss Confederation in 1501.