Denier - Adrian I

Adrian I was the first pope to strike coins in his own name without pairing it with that of the Byzantine emperor — a deliberate break from centuries of practice that had placed imperial authority above papal on the coinage itself. The decision came shortly after his alliance with Charlemagne, who crushed the Lombard kingdom in 774 and confirmed expanded temporal holdings to the papacy, giving Adrian both the political standing and the territorial need for an independent monetary identity.

The series spans nearly a decade of Adrian's exceptionally long pontificate, and die workmanship varies considerably across the run.