Denier - Berengar I fourth coinage, as emperor, Milan mint

Berengar I spent decades clinging to the Italian kingship through a revolving door of foreign invasions and noble betrayals before Pope John X finally crowned him emperor in 915 — the last man to hold that title before the German Ottonians effectively absorbed it. This fourth coinage reflects that brief imperial moment, struck at Milan across less than a decade before Magyar raiders, whom Berengar himself had controversially invited into Italy as a political weapon against his rivals, turned on the kingdom wholesale. He was murdered at Verona in 924.

The "var." citations against both Sambon-Giu and CNI IV signal die-link or legend differences from the plate coins — not unusual for Carolingian-tradition deniers where workshop control was inconsistent and engravers worked with considerable autonomy.