Harald Blåtand unified Denmark and, according to the Jelling stones, "made the Danes Christian" — a political act as much as a religious one. These bracteates, struck from a single die on wafer-thin flans, represent Denmark's earliest indigenous coinage, issued when Scandinavian rulers were only beginning to adopt minting as an instrument of authority rather than relying on hack-silver by weight.
Hauberg 1 is the foundational reference for Danish bracteate coinage. At 0.25g, the half-bracteate format pushed the limits of what silver could carry before becoming structurally unusable.
Harald Blåtand unified Denmark and, according to the Jelling stones, "made the Danes Christian" — a political act as much as a religious one. These bracteates, struck from a single die on wafer-thin flans, represent Denmark's earliest indigenous coinage, issued when Scandinavian rulers were only beginning to adopt minting as an instrument of authority rather than relying on hack-silver by weight.
Hauberg 1 is the foundational reference for Danish bracteate coinage. At 0.25g, the half-bracteate format pushed the limits of what silver could carry before becoming structurally unusable.