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Pfennig - Henry VI
| Issuer | Bishopric of Chur |
|---|---|
| Year | 1491-1503 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | HMZ 1#2-379b |
| Obverse description | A heraldic ibex, the armorial symbol of the Bishopric of Chur, depicted in left-facing profile with prominent curved horns sweeping back over the body. The animal stands in a stylized, boldly struck manner characteristic of late medieval hammered coinage. The device is contained within a border of raised pearls, with a small star positioned at the top of the inner field. The flan is irregular in shape, typical of hand-struck bracteate-style small coinage of the period. No legend is present. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (1491-1503) |
| Additional information |
Chur's late-medieval pfennigs occupy an awkward monetary niche — too light to matter in large transactions, yet essential for petty commerce in the Alpine passes that made the bishopric economically relevant at all. Henry VI of Montfort-Tettnang held the see from 1491 until his death in 1503, a period during which the Graubünden region was consolidating the loose canton alliances that would eventually formalize as the Free State of the Three Leagues. The bishop's minting rights, ancient by this point, were already being squeezed by the growing political autonomy of the secular communes surrounding Chur.