Denier Bracteate - Henry V

Stolberg's bracteate coinage of the early fourteenth century was produced by a county whose silver resources derived directly from the Harz mining region — one of medieval Germany's most productive metallurgical zones. Henry V of Stolberg ruled during a period when small lordships were aggressively asserting coinage rights partly as a political statement against encroachment by larger neighbors, including the Counts of Mansfeld and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg.

Bracteates of this weight class were already an anachronism by 1310; the thicker, bilateral penny had largely displaced single-sided coinage across most of the Empire by this date. Stolberg's continued use of the form suggests either conservative local tradition or deliberate differentiation from regional competitors.