Denier Bracteate - Henry of Gardelegen

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.