Denier Bracteate - Adelheid III of Sachsen

Adelheid III ruled Quedlinburg as abbess for over two decades, during which the abbey retained the right to strike its own coinage — a privilege granted to imperial abbeys under the Ottonian system and jealously maintained through the Salian and early Hohenstaufen periods. Bracteates of this type were produced by hammering thin silver blanks against a single engraved die, leaving a mirror impression on the reverse — a technique that dominated northern German ecclesiastical minting from the mid-twelfth century onward.

Quedlinburg's minting authority traced directly to Henry I, who founded the abbey in 936 in memory of his father.