Austrian Styria Pfennig

These pfennigs from Styria often featured a rampant lion on their obverse, a design borrowed from the duchy’s seal and stamped onto copper blanks with minimal flair.

That lion motif wasn't just decorative; it asserted Styrian autonomy amid the Holy Roman Empire's tangle of rival duchies. Minted in places like Graz or Marburg, these coins were typically crude, with uneven strikes that make modern grading a headache. Copper was the go-to metal, though some issues mixed in silver for heft, reflecting the era's economic pinch.

We don't know exact production figures—most records vanished with the centuries. As for myths, I've heard tales of these being cursed by medieval alchemists, but that's nonsense; they're just worn pieces of history.

One collector once called them "the aspirin of numismatics," dull but effective for headaches.