Catalog
Denier - Béla II Klippe
| Issuer | Hungary |
|---|---|
| Year | 1131-1141 |
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| Currency | Denier (997-1310) |
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| Obverse description | Central large cross extending to the rims, with four large concave crescents positioned in the angles of the cross, each crescent enclosing a single pellet within its arc. The design is rendered in a bold, archaic hammered style characteristic of early medieval Hungarian coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Béla II ruled Hungary partially blind — blinded as a child by order of King Stephen II to prevent him from claiming the throne — and his decade-long reign was marked by a brutal settling of scores at the Diet of Arad in 1131, where scores of nobles implicated in that mutilation were killed. The klippe format of this denier, struck square rather than round, reflects the primitive cutting methods of Hungarian minting in this period rather than any deliberate aesthetic choice.