See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration! or register with email

Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!

Zwanziger - Meinhard II Meran

Issuer County of Tyrol (Austrian States)
Year 1258-1295
Type Log in to see details
Value Log in to see details
Currency Log in to see details
Composition Log in to see details
Weight Log in to see details
Diameter Log in to see details
Thickness Log in to see details
Shape Round (irregular)
Technique Log in to see details
Orientation Log in to see details
Engraver(s) Log in to see details
In circulation to Log in to see details
Reference(s) Log in to see details
Obverse description Central field dominated by a bold, splayed Greek cross with flared terminals, set within a plain inner circle. The arms of the cross are decorated with beaded or rope-like ornamentation at their junctions, giving the design a distinctive Romanesque character. The legend MEINARDVS runs around the periphery in Gothic-influenced Latin majuscules, bordered by a beaded outer rim. The overall style is typical of hammered medieval coinage from the Tyrolean region, with irregular flan edges consistent with hand-struck production.
Obverse script Log in to see details
Obverse lettering MEINARDVS
Reverse description Log in to see details
Reverse script Log in to see details
Reverse lettering Log in to see details
Edge Log in to see details
Mint Log in to see details
Mintage Log in to see details
Additional information

Meinhard II acquired Tyrol through inheritance in 1258 and spent the following decades systematically consolidating one of the most strategically positioned territories in the Alps, controlling the Brenner Pass and extracting considerable revenue from trans-Alpine trade. The Zwanziger — named for its count of twenty to the mark — was central to that fiscal infrastructure, circulating widely enough that it influenced monetary conventions in neighboring Bavarian and Italian markets.

Meinhard died in 1295 having never received the royal title he aggressively pursued from the Habsburgs, despite years of political maneuvering.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE