Denier Bracteate - William

William of Winchester, son of Henry the Lion, ruled Brunswick after his father's final exile from the Empire in 1194. These thin, single-sided bracteates were the dominant penny coinage of northern Germany throughout the high medieval period — struck by hammering a single die through a foil-thin planchet, producing a mirror impression on the reverse. The technique was cheap and fast, but the resulting coins were fragile, which explains why undamaged survivors are scarce despite the volume originally struck.