Saxony (Duchy) Henry the Lion. 1139 / 42-1195. AR Bracteate Diameter: 30mm Weight: 0.80 g Braunshweig mint Obverse: Lion passant left, head facing; annulet above Reverse: Incuse of obverse Kestner 612-8; Bonhoff 272 From Wikipedia: A bracteate (from the Latin bractea, a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vendel era in Sweden). The term is also used for thin discs, especially in gold, to be sewn onto clothing in the ancient world, as found for example in the ancient Persian Oxus treasure, and also later silver coins produced in central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. I was kind of surprised to see that there wasn’t a single thread on CT dedicated to bracteates. At least none that mention them in the title. There are only a handful of times that they are mentioned at all. While they are not a main objective of my collecting experience, I have been aware of them for some time, although I had never purchased one until recently. My recent acquisitions started with the piece below. It is from Augsburg and was listed as part of lot of 7 coins I purchased in a recent auction. I was interested in a couple of the other pieces and barely paid attention to this little piece. When it came in the mail it was the piece that I found most impressive. It is much clearer than my image shows. Augsburg 1288-1302 Wolfhard von Roth-Wackernitz. Bracteate. Obverse: Bust of the bishop from the front with mitra bicornis, crook and book in beaded stripes and 8 sheets St. 94. Kestner- 2656 So, of course, that started me looking for others. To me, pictures don’t convey the “cool” factor of these. When I look for them online I just kind of get a meh reaction from myself. So, in the month or so since the first purchase, nothing really jumped out at me to purchase. My key collecting area is German States coinage from the 1400’s to 1871. Branching out to some earlier coins makes sense to me. The coin pictured at the beginning of this thread was purchased today at a local coin show. It is huge for a bracteate. It came with an old CNG tag and with a little sleuthing I saw that I paid less than half what it sold for there. I can deal with that. The 2 below were purchased from the same dealer. I think he was just impressed that someone knew what a bracteate was. Augsburg Diocese of Hartmann Graf von Dillingen 1250-1286 Bracteate Obverse: head of the bishop from the front, one ring Bonh on each side. 1918. Berger 2651 Tiengen. Barons of Krenkingen. about 1350-1400. Weight: 0.35 g Obverse: T-E / V, draped bust left, wearing pointed helmet Reverse: Incuse of the obverse Berger 2468; Bonhoff 1793; Wüthrich 167 Prices for these are all over the place. The 4 pieces I have shown above ranged in price from $30 to $180 but they can go up into 4 figures. So, show your bracteates if you have them. I know their other collectors here on CT.
Huge fan of bracteates. I do not own any though I love them. This may be my fav, Friedich II -Lindau I also love this one, also from Lindau
I have liked them for a while but just hadn't purchased any. I can't really say there is a reason why.
I just bid on (and lost- *snif*) a Henry the Lion bracteate like that. I liked that it was from Braunschweig- or Brunswick- because I live in Brunswick, Georgia. Plus it's a nice design. That was the second time I've just fallen short on a bracteate I was after. I shall have to up my game next time. I still have yet to own one.
I've always been attracted to these. Thing is, these aren't exactly the sort of thing you just stumble across - like a "foreign whatzit" carelessly tossed in a dealer junk box that really turns out to be a treasure. There are rarely "bargains" on these. Relatively good deals for a type, yes, but not often sub-$50 deals. Dealers who have them tend to know quite well what they are and price them accordingly. Demand doesn't seem too high, not like crown sized silver, but it is pretty consistent. Someday I won't be able to keep talking myself out of collecting these! Thanks for posting!
Picked another one up today at our monthly coin show. GERMANY, Halberstadt (diocese) Gero. 1160-1177. AR Bracteate Diameter: 28mm Weight: 0.84 Obverse: St. Stephan standing, holding maniple and book Reverse: Incuse of obverse Kestner 1319; Löbbecke 39; Bonhoff 469.
Pretty! And big! Is that an old ink collection number or owner's mark on there? I finally got one, as you have seen.
I believe so. It could also be an old price. It almost looks like 48.00 to me. I've never seen anyone do that though.
It does look like the number 48, with some other characters (not ".00".) I've never seen a price written on a coin. Must be a collection number or museum mark of some kind, done in India ink. Those I have seen. It's a safe bet that ink is over a hundred years old. It has been there long enough to become part of the history of the piece, and as such, adds a bit of character to it rather than detracting.
you may need to spend more time in the Ancients section! @Orielensis started a lovely thread on Bracteates just last year. And while I have yet to purchase a Bracteate, I tend to post all of my medieval/hammered coins there. I love the coins here though! You all have some very beautiful examples (and I’ve been looking in to getting some of those coins from Lindau - LOVE the design)
I find myself wishing more and more for a dedicated forum for medieval and early modern coins... I feel like they tend to get lost in both the ancients and world coin forums.
I agree with the posts getting lost. At the same time though, I don’t know if there are enough of us to have a very lively community (one of the reasons I enjoy hanging out in the Ancients forum...)
I agree--and I also hang out on the ancients board a lot--but at the same time my hope would be that having a dedicated space would help attract a community. I imagine it's a moot point though.
I think the same thing about exonumia. I have a lot of medals and none currency coin like specimens like tokens and notgeld so I usually post miscellanea in the World Coin area because they are almost always European.
Reviving this thread because bracteates are very cool...had to share my own Brunswick purchase: Albrecht der Große Duchy of Brunswick 1269-1279 .64g, ~26mm Lion left with head facing (Berger 708) I am fascinated by the coins themselves, they are paper thin and have survived for so long! The art is often extremely beautiful as the thin flan allows the artist to flex their muscles and really work intricate, high relief designs into the dies. These coins were struck using only one die and something soft on the blank to assist in deforming the flan for the strike. I only own a few budget bracteates, but I look forward to adding more soon and they are still extremely beautiful. I use these as inspiration for my own bracteate works from time to time. It is really important to understand that these were not used as jewelry in the middle ages, they actually functioned as money. These were used as local, short lived currencies renewed about once a year or so. The wow factor of holding one in your hand is amazing. Glad to see there are other collectors here on CT!
