Between Silver and Trust - Minting Rights, Coin Production and Monetary Depreciation in the Free Imperial City of Goslar, c. 1581–1677

This paper examines coinage in Goslar as the intersection of minting rights, access to bullion, workshop production, municipal finance, circulation and social conflict. Its main focus is 1581–1677, with particular emphasis on the Kipper- und Wipperzeit of 1618–1622, the disturbances at the town hall on 4 February 1622, and a contested loan of 400 Reichstalers that reached the Goslar council in 1625. It systematically distinguishes coins issued by the imperial city from Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel issues struck in the same region. Evidence is drawn from critical numismatic scholarship, digitally verified museum object records and precisely identified archival finding aids. Four hypotheses concerning seigniorage, currency conversion and the social distribution of monetary losses are proposed; no new sequence of metal fineness, output or inflation is presented as established until original mint accounts and legal records have been fully collated. The result is a substantial scholarly working paper and a framework for a future edition of primary sources.