Denier Bracteate - Theodoric I

Theodoric I of Meissen ruled during a period when the Wettin dynasty was consolidating control over Saxony's eastern marches, frequently navigating the fractious politics between the Hohenstaufen emperors and rival German princes. Bracteates of this type — struck from a single die on thin silver flans — were the dominant coinage of central and eastern Germany through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a regional preference that persisted long after western German territories had returned to double-sided striking.

Schwink 479b is a catalogued variety within a series notorious for die fragility; the large flan diameter relative to the coin's negligible thickness made edge splitting and die cracking routine production problems, not collector damage.