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Denier Bracteate - Ottokar II
| Issuer | Kingdom of Bohemia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1253-1260 |
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| In circulation to | 1300 |
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| Obverse description | Bracteate type struck on a thin, broad flan with characteristically irregular serrated edges. Within a raised inner circle, a frontal figure of a seated ruler — identified as Ottokar II — is depicted in low relief, wearing a crown and royal regalia with crossed arms resting across the body. Two large flanking elements, likely stylized wings or foliate branches, frame the central effigy symmetrically on either side. The design is rendered in the Bohemian bracteate tradition, with the image appearing in relief on the obverse and as a corresponding incuse impression on the reverse. No legend is present. |
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| Reverse description | As is typical of bracteate coinage, the reverse presents an incuse mirror image of the obverse design, showing the seated frontal royal effigy flanked by stylized wings or foliate motifs pressed into the thin silver flan. The surface is plain and unadorned beyond the incuse impression, with no additional inscription or secondary design elements. The irregular, jagged edge of the flan is visible around the circumference. |
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| Additional information |
Ottokar II came to the Bohemian throne in 1253 following his father Wenceslaus I's death, and the bracteate deniers of his early reign reflect a minting tradition that Bohemia had adopted from German ecclesiastical coinages — thin, single-sided silver pieces struck from a single die against a yielding surface. Cach 787 falls within the first phase of his rule, before the monetary reforms that accompanied his aggressive territorial expansion into Austria and Styria reshaped Bohemian coinage norms through the later 1260s.
Bracteates of this type are structurally fragile; even lightly circulated examples routinely show stress cracks radiating from the strike center.