Denier - Adalbero II

Adalbero II held the see of Basel from 999 until his death in 1025, operating under Ottonian imperial patronage at a moment when German bishops wielded coinage rights as instruments of regional economic control rather than mere ecclesiastical privilege. His mint at Basel sat at a critical crossing of Rhine trade routes, giving these small silver pieces genuine commercial utility beyond the diocese itself.

The HMZ 188 attribution places this squarely within the earliest documented Basel episcopal coinage.