The counts of Stolberg struck bracteates well into a period when most neighboring Rhenish and Thuringian mints had already abandoned the form in favor of thicker bilateral pfennigs. Henry XVI's issues represent one of the later survivals of the bracteate tradition in the Harz region, where the type persisted partly due to conservative local monetary custom and partly because the lightweight single-sided fabric remained convenient for small daily transactions in a landlocked county with limited silver resources.
The counts of Stolberg struck bracteates well into a period when most neighboring Rhenish and Thuringian mints had already abandoned the form in favor of thicker bilateral pfennigs. Henry XVI's issues represent one of the later survivals of the bracteate tradition in the Harz region, where the type persisted partly due to conservative local monetary custom and partly because the lightweight single-sided fabric remained convenient for small daily transactions in a landlocked county with limited silver resources.