Denier Bracteate - Henry II

Henry II of Hessen ruled during one of the most fractious periods of Landgraviate politics, contending simultaneously with the territorial ambitions of the Archbishopric of Mainz and internal dynastic pressures following the division of Hessian lands. Bracteates of this type — struck on a single thin flan so that the design punches through as a mirror image on the reverse — were already an archaic coinage technology by the mid-fourteenth century, persisting in central German territories long after western mints had abandoned them. Their fragility in circulation means intact examples are genuinely uncommon.