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Denier Bracteate - Wolfgang of Dalberg
| Issuer | Archbishopric of Mainz |
|---|---|
| Year | 1586-1589 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | MB#90, Walther#213 |
| Obverse description | Quartered shield of arms combining the arms of Mainz (argent, a wheel gules) and Dalberg (or, three roundels in pale sable), with the date divided across the field where present. The initial letter 'W' for Wolfgang appears prominently above the shield, serving as the archbishop's personal identifier. The design is rendered in the bracteate tradition, with shallow relief typical of late 16th-century hammered coinage from the Mainz mint. A beaded border frames the entire composition. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Blank field, as is characteristic of bracteate coinage, where the design is struck on a thin flan producing only an incuse impression on the reverse side with no intentional design or legend. |
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| Additional information |
Wolfgang von Dalberg held the archiepiscopal see of Mainz for just three years before his death in 1601 — but his coinage tenure as elector was shaped less by brevity than by the catastrophic fiscal strain of the Long Turkish War bearing down on the Empire's finances. The bracteate denier belongs to a denomination so vestigial by the late sixteenth century that it survived largely through ecclesiastical conservatism; secular mints had abandoned the form generations earlier.
Mainz bracteates of this period are notoriously difficult to attribute without die references. MB#90 and Walther#213 remain the anchoring citations.