Denier Bracteate - Philip I

Philip the Elector Palatine — known as Philip the Upright — governed the Upper Palatinate during a period of sustained friction with the Wittelsbach ducal branch in Bavaria, and these thin, single-sided bracteates reflect the monetarily fragmented reality of the late Holy Roman Empire, where regional lords maintained independent striking rights as a matter of political fact rather than delegation. At 0.36 grams, the flan was near the practical lower limit for silver coinage before the metal itself became the liability.