Bernd von der Borch served as Master of the Livonian Order during a period of near-constant friction with the Archbishop of Riga — a rivalry that at times broke into open armed conflict. Small billon pfennigs of this type circulated through the trading towns of the eastern Baltic at a moment when the Order's political authority was being contested from multiple directions simultaneously, including pressure from the growing influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the south.
The Federation reference 444 places this among the catalogued Livonian bracteate-derived small coinage. At 0.33g, losses through clipping and wear were nearly irreversible — survivors in identifiable condition are genuinely scarce.
Bernd von der Borch served as Master of the Livonian Order during a period of near-constant friction with the Archbishop of Riga — a rivalry that at times broke into open armed conflict. Small billon pfennigs of this type circulated through the trading towns of the eastern Baltic at a moment when the Order's political authority was being contested from multiple directions simultaneously, including pressure from the growing influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the south.
The Federation reference 444 places this among the catalogued Livonian bracteate-derived small coinage. At 0.33g, losses through clipping and wear were nearly irreversible — survivors in identifiable condition are genuinely scarce.