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Denier Bracteate - Henry of Gardelegen
| Issuer | Brandenburg, Margraviate of |
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| Year | 1184-1192 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 20 mm |
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| Obverse description | Triple-towered Romanesque gateway rendered in high relief, characteristic of the bracteate die-sinking tradition. The two flanking towers are surmounted by cross finials and feature arcaded lower sections, while the central gatehouse displays a recessed portal with a prominent key placed horizontally across its face. Above the gateway, the manus Dei — a hand of God issuing from a cloud — descends from the upper field, with a large key suspended diagonally beside it, together evoking ecclesiastical and comital authority. The entire design is uniface, struck in thin silver sheet with an irregular, raised rim formed by the hammering process. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Henry of Gardelegen ruled as margrave during a period when the Ascanian house of Brandenburg was consolidating territorial authority across the northern March, and bracteate coinage was the dominant monetary form across the region precisely because single-sided thin-flan coins were cheaper to produce than the bilateral deniers still common further west. The type is well-catalogued across four major references, suggesting it survived in sufficient numbers to be studied seriously — bracteates, despite their fragility, often appear in hoards rather than as single finds.