The abbot of the monastery of Allerheiligen in the Swiss city of Schaffhausen issued pfennigs since the 12th century. The earliest pieces bore the descriptive image of a sheep standing on a rooftop, reflecting the belief that the city's name derived from 'Schaf-Hausen,' the 'house of sheep.' In the early 13th century there were also pfennigs depicting a ram and a cross, or a ram jumping out of an archway. This was the image that Schaffhausen adopted for its seal when it became a Free City in 1218.
That the quality of the coin images was not among the abbot's first priorities is evident on this square pfennig, whose sheep looks rather like a long-legged dragon. The coin is a bracteate, a pfennig minted on one side only. The sheep on this coin can also be regarded as the Lamb of God – as the Agnus Dei symbolizing Jesus Christ.