Rappen

Basel's municipal coinage in the mid-eighteenth century occupied an awkward monetary position — the city-state struck its own small denominations while simultaneously circulating Swiss Confederation issues and a flood of foreign coin. The Rappen was the workhorse of local petty transactions, and billon of this weight was already pushing the lower boundary of practical coinage; the metal value barely justified the striking costs.

HMZ 2-108b distinguishes this emission from closely related Basel Rappen types by minor die characteristics documented by Divo and Tobler.