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Denier Bracteate - Béla IV

Issuer Hungary
Year 1173-1270
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Value Denier (Denár) (1)
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Obverse description Youthful male bust in profile facing right, rendered in low relief, enclosed within a beaded inner circle and a further beaded outer border. The head exhibits schematically rendered curled hair and simplified facial features characteristic of medieval Hungarian bracteate coinage. No legend or inscription appears in the field. The overall design reflects the Romanesque artistic style prevalent in the Hungarian royal mint during the Árpád dynasty period.
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Additional information

Béla IV's reign (1235–1270) was defined almost entirely by the Mongol invasion of 1241–42, which devastated Hungary's population and economy so thoroughly that the kingdom's minting infrastructure effectively collapsed mid-production. These thin bracteate deniers — struck on a single face from an extraordinarily delicate flan — were partly a consequence of severe silver shortages during and after the invasion, when the crown could not sustain the metal content of earlier issues. The multiple catalog references under H#192 through 194 reflect genuine die distinctions, not cataloger redundancy.

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