GERMANY. Villingen, Leopold IV von Habsburg, 1395-1411. Runder Pfennig (Silver, 17 mm, 0.28 g, 12 h). Head of St. Barnabas to left between V-I. Rev. Incuse of obverse. CNA M 5/1. Höfken-Hatingsheim 656. Kenzler 626. Klein (Villingen) 101. Meyer pl. 5, 71. Ulmer 289. Wielandt (Breisgau) 78b. Wüthrich -. Extremely rare and nicely toned. A well preserved example of this difficult issue. Very fine.

The round pfennigs of Villingen form a small yet particularly fascinating chapter in the rich numismatic history of this important medieval city, which occupied a strategically significant position between the economic centers of the Lake Constance region and the Rhine Valley. The type offered here is one of only two known issues of this kind and is attested primarily by the hoards of Trier, buried around 1403, and Tübingen, concealed around 1409. Remarkably, despite Villingen’s importance and the existence of at least six different dies for the present type, the issue itself appears to have been struck only in very limited numbers