Ever see a 45mm silver coin that weighs less than a gram?

CIVITAS

Now you have...



I really like these big bracteate coins. They truly are paper thin, which is why a nice complete coin is usually $1500.00+ because they almost always come tattered like this one.

Bracteates in general are fun. Here's a few more.







One for jester:



It's actually a bishop's head, but it always looks like a court jester to me.

drjules

Very interesting

Dr J

Askari

oldshep

Josh - educate me on where these were from and when - Why the extreme thiness?
Shep

cosmicdebris

Must be made from Aluminum foil.

shylock

The darkside never ceases to amaze me, I guess that's why most of my posts here end in question marks. Does "bracteate" mean a one sided coin struck on a thin planchet? They look like they were hammered by hand on a piece of tin. If they're struck on silver it's no wonder they're rare with a complete planchet.

kamehameha00

brac·te·ate
adj.
Bearing bracts.


bracteate

Brac"te*ate, a. [Cf.L. bracteatus covered with gold plate.] (Bot.) Having a bract or bracts.


bracteate

adj : having bracts


Sweet coins, BTW.

lordmarcovan

What's the attribution on the "B.A./bishop/jester" coin?

CIVITAS

Shylock:



<< <i>Does "bracteate" mean a one sided coin struck on a thin planchet? >>



From the International Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Numismatics: "A flat thin silver pfennig produced in German regions from about 1100 to the mid-fourteenth century. It is struck from one die and has only one readable side. The die is cut in relief and the coin is stamped from the back. Its purpose was to give moneyers a larger area to produce and artistic image than a coin of this weight would normally permit...."



<< <i>Josh - educate me on where these were from and when - Why the extreme thiness? >>



Shep:

First coin:

GERMAN STATES Johann I Hersfeld Abbey 1201-1213 -- #ME8929
AR Bracteate 45mm. 0.58g.
Abbot seated facing, holding crozier and Gospels; two small towers flanking.
HERSFEL-D HAND…
Incuse of the obverse.
Berger 2265; Bonhoff 1389; reichmann 1859

Second coin:

GERMAN STATES Leopold III of Austria Freiburg in Breisgau 1368-1386 -- #ME8902
AR Bracteate Rappen 17mm. 0.40g.
Eagle's head left, with five feathers.
Incuse of the obverse.
Wielandt (Breisgau) 48b; Bonhoff 1788

Third coin:

GERMAN STATES Friedrich II Brandenburg 1440-1470 -- #ME8924
AR Bracteate Hohlpfennig 17mm. 0.24g.
Imperial eagle displayed, head left.
Incuse of the obverse.
Saurma 4675/2490

Fourth coin:

SWITZERLAND Johann II Senn von Münsingen Basel, Bishopric 1335-1365 -- #ME8890
AR Bracteate Pfennig 20mm. 0.34g.
Mitred head of Bishop left; B-A in fields.
Incuse of the obverse.
Wielandt 115; Corragioni pg. XXVII, 33-34

If you go to our website and just type in bracteate in the search field, there's about 30 different ones up there now.

LovelyDarkAngel

UUmm Never seen that before. learn something every day or 2

canadiancoinguy

Neat!

lordmarcovan

L@@k!!! MONSTER RAINBOW TONING!!! LQQK!!!

ajaan

<< <i>L@@k!!! MONSTER RAINBOW TONING!!! LQQK!!! >>


Yes, but BBed due to damage.

Philip

There are awesome, Josh, thanks for sharing. I didn't know there are bracteates from as late as the 15th century

earlwbollinger

very interesting.
I always thought that the bractates were typically late Byzantine Roman coins.
I never thought that anyone else would make them too.
But then those parts of Europe under the "Holy Roman Empire" gang, maybe copied the Byzantines.
Thanks for sharing these.
I learn something new everyday.

1jester

"One for jester:

It's actually a bishop's head, but it always looks like a court jester to me."



I especially like the 3rd one, probably for the toning. The second one is cool too. Personally, I don't like the ones that are broken, but to be fair, I've never collected bracteates anyway. What I find particularly interesting about numbers 2 and 4 is that they were hammered from a square flan, but then left that way without cutting off the corners, which I don't see too often.

Thanks for sharing, Josh!

ColinCMR

Those are really nice!

Conder101

<< <i>I didn't know there are bracteates from as late as the 15th century >>


Pieces struck in the bracteate style date much later than that. Emergency tokens from La Rochelle and Provincicale France in 1914 are bracteates, and at least two of the regions of Spain during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 - 37 produced bracteate coinages.