Henry I of Hessen ruled as landgrave from 1264 to 1308, one of the longer reigns of the medieval German principalities, and his bracteate halfpennies circulated across a territory still consolidating its political independence from Thuringia and Mainz. The Halblings of this period are among the thinnest and most fragile silver pieces produced in the region — at 0.17g, striking without cracking the flan demanded genuine skill from the die-cutters.
The Schütz and Hävernick references place this squarely within a contested attribution sequence; minor die variants across Henry's long reign have made precise dating within the 1263–1308 window difficult.
Henry I of Hessen ruled as landgrave from 1264 to 1308, one of the longer reigns of the medieval German principalities, and his bracteate halfpennies circulated across a territory still consolidating its political independence from Thuringia and Mainz. The Halblings of this period are among the thinnest and most fragile silver pieces produced in the region — at 0.17g, striking without cracking the flan demanded genuine skill from the die-cutters.
The Schütz and Hävernick references place this squarely within a contested attribution sequence; minor die variants across Henry's long reign have made precise dating within the 1263–1308 window difficult.