Bracteate Pfennig - Berthold von Leiningen Griffen

Berthold von Leiningen served as Bishop of Bamberg from 1257 to 1285, a tenure marked by persistent conflict with the Hohenzollern burgraves of Nuremberg over territorial jurisdiction in Franconia. Bamberg's bracteate coinage of this period functioned partly as a political instrument — thin single-sided silver pennies were cheap to produce in quantity and useful for asserting monetary authority across disputed territory without the expense of a full two-sided issue.

The CNA Ce11 attribution places this piece within a well-documented sequence for the diocese, though die-to-die variation within the type is considerable.