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Imperial mint in Nördlingen
Pledge holder :   Eberhard IV of Eppstein-Königstein, 1503-1535.
Nördlingen is located in Bavaria near the border to Württemberg. The town burned down in 1238 shortly after it became free imperial city. As a result, the imperial tax was waived for a few years. Nördlingen remained imperial city until 1803, but was pledged several times to the Counts of Öttingen: in 1250 the whole city was temporarily pledged. Later only the city tax or the Jewish tax was repeatedly pledged.
In 1418 King Sigmund founded imperial mints in Frankfort, Basel and Dortmund as well as in Nördlingen. Until then, the city had only one mint master commissioned by the emperor only for the time of the fair. In the course of time King Sigmund owed the patron of these imperial mints, Konrad Weinsberg, 5450 guilders. Therefore, in 1431 the king had to pledge the three southern imperial mints to his creditor until the debt was paid.The debts were not paid back and the pledge was passed on: from Konrad to Philipp of Weinsberg (1469-1503), then to his son-in-law Eberhard of Eppstein-Königstein (1503-1535) and finally to Louis II of Stolberg (1535-1574), the last pledge holder. After his death, the last imperial mints in Nördlingen, Frankfurt and Augsburg (where the Basel mint moved in 1515) were given up. The imperial coinage, which was dominant in the early Middle Ages, was thus fragmented over the time into a myriad of territorial coins.


1/2 Batzen 1527, Nördlingen.     Ø 21 mm.     Herzfelder 98g; Schulten 2424.
Obv.:   +MONETA·NOVA·NORDLIN
Coat of arms of the county of Königstein and the date.
Rev.:   ·KAROLVS·ROMANOrum·Imperator·
Crowned youthful bust with lily scepter and orb.
The coat of arms is for the pledge holder who comes from the Taunus, while the inscription on the obverse indicates the mint located in Nördlingen. Complaints about the poor quality of the coins were addressed to Nördlingen. The city could not exert any influence, because the workers of the mint were only subject to city jurisdiction as persons. The city did not have the right to hold the workers accountable for improperly performing their work.


Batzen 1532, Nördlingen.     Ø 26 mm, 3,20 g.     Herzfelder 107b; Schulten 2423.
Obv.:   +MONETA:NOVA:NORDLING
Arms of Eppstein-Münzenberg and Königstein-Dietz, on top ·1532·, beneath ·N·
Rev.:   ¤KAROLVS:ROMANO:IM¤
Crowned and armored bust of the emperor with orb and scepter.

The Batzen was introduced in Switzerland around 1500 and was valued 4 Kreuzer. The name possibly goes back to the Bernese bear (old German Bätz). Nördlingen coined Batzen and half Batzen from 1512 to 1535 with interruptions. The Batzen initially contained 1.7 g of silver, but was minted with less and less silver in many places. The Batzen was finally given up by the southern German estates in 1536.

The title and portrait of the emperor with his insignia should give these coins more acceptance. But the die cutters did not put in much effort: In a transition period from 1520 to 1522, both the title of Maximilian and that of Charles were used in the legend. The portrait, however, remained unchanged:


Batzen 1521, Nördlingen
Left with title of Maximilian.                       Right with title of Charles V.

Imperial mint in Nördlingen
Pledge holder :   Philip of Weinsberg, 1469-1503.
Under Philip of Weinsberg, the predecessor of Eberhard IV of Eppstein-Königstein as pledge holder, the die cutters were some times able for more artistic work:


Schilling 1497.     Ø 25 mm, 2,48 g.   Herzfelder - (vgl.19); Schulten 2407.
+MONETA:NOVA:NORDING:149Λ   //   +MAXIMILIANVS - ROMANOR:REX
The Gothic legend (with Λ = 7) surrounds a Renaissance portrait of emperor Maximilian.
Rev.: uncrowned eagle, below arms of Weinsberg.

Ref.:
H. HerzfelderDie Reichsmünzstätten Nördlingen und Augsburg unter den Häusern Weinsberg und
  Königstein
, in Mitteilung der Bay. Numism. Gesellschaft 42 (1924), S.70-133

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