Denier Bracteate - Henry I

Henry I of Hessen ruled from 1264 until his death in 1308, consolidating the Landgraviate through a series of territorial acquisitions and feudal disputes that kept his treasury under near-constant pressure. Bracteates of this period were not prestige issues — they were workhorses, struck thin and light precisely because silver was scarce and debasement had to be managed across competing regional coinages in the Rhineland and Thuringia.

The single-sided striking technique made bracteates inherently fragile, and few survive without cracking or distortion along the edges.