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Denier Bracteate - Boleslaus V the Chaste Kraków mint
| Issuer | Duchy of Kraków (Boleslaus V the Chaste) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1243-1279 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denier (1177-1305) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | As a bracteate struck from a single die on a thin silver flan, the reverse presents a mirror-image incuse impression of the obverse design. The standing princely figure and surrounding decorative elements appear in negative relief, with the beaded border reproduced in recessed form around the periphery of the irregularly shaped coin. The surface texture is characteristic of single-sided hammered bracteate production of 13th-century Silesian-Polish coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Boleslaus V earned his epithet through a celebrated vow of chastity made alongside his wife Kinga of Hungary — a personal circumstance that left the Piast dynasty without a direct heir and contributed to the fragmented succession crises that plagued Lesser Poland after his death in 1279. His reign coincided with the catastrophic Mongol invasions of 1241 and 1259, which devastated Kraków twice and almost certainly disrupted mint production severely. Bracteate coinage of this type — struck on thin single-sided flans — was characteristic of Polish minting practice in the thirteenth century, where silver was scarce enough that a full two-sided flan represented wasteful expenditure.