1 Pfennig Bracteate

Goslar's mint authority in this period derived directly from the city's control over the Rammelsberg silver mines — among the richest ore deposits in medieval Europe. The mines financed imperial ambitions for generations before the city gained effective autonomy, and this bracteate represents the municipality striking on its own account rather than in service of the Salian or Hohenstaufen crown. Bracteate production demanded exceptional hammering precision; a single-sided thin flan punched between a die and a leather pad, meaning the reverse is nothing but a mirror ghost of the obverse in incuse.