Denier Bracteate

Brunswick-Lüneburg's bracteate deniers occupy an unusual position in medieval German coinage — thin, single-sided, and extraordinarily fragile, they were a regional solution to the chronic shortage of silver that plagued the duchy across the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The type persisted for two centuries precisely because it was cheap to produce, requiring far less silver per coin than contemporary double-sided issues from neighboring mints.

Berger 845 and Denicke 256 place this piece within a well-documented but technically demanding series for collectors — the thin flans crack and curl with minimal provocation, and genuinely flat, uncreased survivors are scarce.