Batzen
Sign in to savethumb|200px|Bernese batzen (15th century) thumb|40-Batzen Thaler, Vaud, 1812 thumb|Bern: 5 Batzen 1826, concordat type thumb|Freiburg im Üechtland|Freiburg (Freyburg): 1 Batzen 1830 The batzen is a historical Swiss, south German, and Austrian coin. It was first produced in Bern, Switzerland, from 1492 and remained in use there until the mid-19th century.
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3 sectionsContents
- Name
- History
- References
thumb|200px|Bernese batzen (15th century) thumb|40-Batzen Thaler, Vaud, 1812 thumb|Bern: 5 Batzen 1826, concordat type thumb|Freiburg im Üechtland|Freiburg (Freyburg): 1 Batzen 1830 The batzen is a historical Swiss, south German, and Austrian coin. It was first produced in Bern, Switzerland, from 1492 and remained in use there until the mid-19th century.
== Name == Bernese chronicler Valerius Anshelm explained the word through folk etymology, stating that it came from Bëtz ("bear"), the heraldic animal of the Swiss canton, which was embossed on the reverse of the coin. The word probably derives from the Upper German (particularly Bavarian) batzen ("stick together") or Batzen ("lump, thick piece"), as it referred to a Dickpfennig ("fat pfennig").