Denier Bracteate - Béla IV

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.