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Denier - Bernhard III
| Issuer | Saxony, Duchy of |
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| Year | 1180-1212 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Armoured half-length figure of Duke Bernhard III facing left, depicted in profile wearing a conical helmet, clad in chain mail, and holding a raised sword in the right hand and a lily sceptre in the left hand; the effigy is rendered in the bold, schematic style typical of Saxon bracteate-influenced deniers of the late 12th century. |
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| Reverse description | Stylised Romanesque church or cathedral façade depicted frontally, featuring a central portal flanked by two towers with domed or crenellated tops, set within a beaded inner circle; the architectural rendering is highly schematic, consistent with the conventional ecclesiastical motifs found on Saxon deniers of the Bernhard III period, with additional decorative elements filling the field. |
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| Additional information |
Bernhard III came to the duchy in 1180 as a direct beneficiary of Henry the Lion's catastrophic fall — when Frederick Barbarossa stripped the Welf duke of his territories, the Ascanian Bernhard received Saxony as reward for loyalty. These deniers were struck across a reign spanning three decades, and attributing individual pieces to a specific sub-period remains difficult without accompanying die studies.
The Jesse and Berger references place this type firmly within the bracteate-adjacent coinage of northern Germany, where thin silver pennies circulated alongside the broader bracteate tradition.