Schilling Klippe, 11/2 schillings weight

Zürich's klippe issues of the mid-seventeenth century were struck as presentation pieces and special emissions rather than everyday currency, their square-cut flans serving as a deliberate departure from the round coinage in simultaneous circulation. The 1640 date falls during a period when Swiss city-states jealously guarded their minting privileges, and Zürich was among the most prolific in exercising them. Winter Kl#24b distinguishes this piece by die variety within a small family of related strikings.