Denier Bracteate - Albert

Albert of Orlamünde held the Danish county of Nordalbingia as a fief under Valdemar II, governing the region between the Eider and Elbe rivers during a period when Danish royal power in the southern Baltic reached its greatest territorial extent. Bracteates of this type — struck on a single thin flan from one die — were the dominant small-change coinage of northern Germany throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, their fragility making survivors in any decent state genuinely uncommon. Berger 232 is among the more precisely attributed issues from this county, which is not always the case with Nordalbingian bracteate series.