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Vierer
| Issuer | City of Solothurn |
|---|---|
| Year | 1549-1566 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Billon |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field features the quartered arms of Solothurn — divided horizontally, with the upper half further divided vertically — displayed on a shield. A displayed eagle surmounts the shield as a crest. The composition is enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The surrounding circular legend reads MONETA SOLODOR, separated by annulets, identifying this as coinage of the city of Solothurn. The flan is irregular, as typical of hammered small billon coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central motif consists of a plain cross with expanding arms set within a raised circle, dividing the inner field into four quadrants. The surrounding circular legend, read clockwise, invokes Saint Ursus — patron saint of Solothurn — followed by the date of issue. The lettering is executed in Gothic-influenced majuscules characteristic of mid-16th-century Swiss municipal coinage. The flan exhibits the characteristic irregularity and surface roughness of hammered billon production. |
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| Additional information |
Solothurn's billon issues of the mid-sixteenth century were struck under the city's own cantonal authority at a moment when the Swiss Confederation's monetary fragmentation was acute — dozens of issuing bodies, overlapping denominations, and chronic debasement made small-change transactions genuinely chaotic. The Vierer occupied the lowest practical tier of daily commerce, the coin that changed hands at market stalls and toll gates.
The HMZ 2#2-829 attribution covers the full span of this type's production across nearly two decades, suggesting die documentation remains incomplete for individual emission years within the 1549–1566 window.