Denier Bracteate - Otto II

Otto II ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg during a period when the Ascanian dynasty was aggressively expanding eastward through the Wendish territories. Bracteates — struck on a single thin flan with the design pressed through to create a mirror image on the reverse — were the dominant coinage of northern and central Germany throughout the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, a regional preference that persisted long after double-sided striking had become standard elsewhere.

The Berger and Löbbecke references place this firmly within a well-documented typology, though the twenty-year emission window reflects the difficulty of attributing bracteates to specific years within a reign absent documentary mint records.