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Bracteate `Hulpenning` - Erik of Pomerania
| Issuer | Denmark |
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| Year | 1396-1439 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Central device comprising a stylized royal crown with three fleurs-de-lis finials and pellet ornaments adorning the upper band, all rendered in relief against a flat field characteristic of bracteate production. The crown's arched base displays incuse linear detailing. The design is enclosed within a plain inner circle, itself surrounded by a beaded or pellet border near the irregular hammered rim. No legend is present; the composition is entirely emblematic, reflecting the minimalist iconographic convention of late medieval Danish pennings. |
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| Reverse description | As a bracteate, the reverse presents the incuse mirror image of the obverse type, showing the impression of the royal crown in negative relief as transferred through the single thin silver flan during hammering. The surface is concave and uneven, with the flan edges exhibiting the characteristic irregular outline of hand-cut medieval blanks. No inscriptions or secondary devices are discernible on the reverse field. |
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| Additional information |
Erik of Pomerania inherited the Danish throne through his great-aunt Margaret I, who effectively ruled as regent until her death in 1412 and was the true architect of the Kalmar Union binding Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single crown. Erik's own reign unraveled badly — his aggressive toll policies at the Øresund, combined with chronic wars against the Holstein nobility, triggered a Hanseatic trade embargo and eventually a multi-kingdom revolt that forced his deposition in 1439. The hulpenning, a fractional bracteate struck on a thin wafer of silver, was the workaday small change of that turbulent administration.