Denier Bracteate - Eberhard II of Waldburg-Thann

Eberhard II served as Bishop of Constance from 1248 to 1274, a tenure marked by persistent conflict with the Hohenstaufen succession crisis and the interregnum that followed Conrad IV's death in 1254. Bracteates of this type were struck on foil-thin flans, a technique favored across the upper Rhine and Swabian regions during the thirteenth century precisely because it allowed ecclesiastical mints to stretch silver supplies while maintaining a recognizable, if fragile, coinage. Most examples that survive have suffered edge cracks or flan stress inherent to the manufacturing method.