Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | County of Formbach (Austrian States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1130-1140 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Architecturally styled design featuring a schematic representation of a church or tower facade rendered in a flat, stylized Romanesque manner typical of early medieval Austrian bracteate-influenced pfennigs. The central motif displays a crenellated or turreted structure with vertical divisions, flanked by subsidiary ornamental elements in the field. The flan is irregular and slightly broken, consistent with hand-hammered production of the period. Legend elements, if present, are largely illegible due to the crude striking and worn condition of the specimen. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The counts of Formbach, seated near the Inn River in Bavaria, were a prominent dynasty whose line collapsed abruptly when Count Ekbert II died without male heirs around 1158, his territories absorbed by the Habsburgs' predecessors and the bishopric of Passau. Coins attributable to this county survive in very small numbers, and the attribution to Dietrich — likely Dietrich I — rests primarily on typological comparison within the Corpus Nummorum Austriacorum framework rather than documentary proof.
The broad, thin fabric at this diameter relative to the weight is characteristic of south German bracteate-transitional minting practice of the period.