Denier Bracteate - Siegfried III of Rechberg

Siegfried III held the Augsburg see during a period of intense conflict between papal and imperial factions, and his coinage reflects the administrative fragility of the diocese under those pressures. Bracteates of this type were struck on single-face flans so thin that die stress and metal flow during striking routinely distorted the imagery — a structural limitation of the format, not a quality failure of the mint.