Catalog
Pfennig Undetermined Friesach minting
| Issuer | Duchy of Carinthia (Austrian States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1210-1230 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.93 g |
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| Obverse description | Full-length frontal figure of a standing bishop in ecclesiastical vestments, holding a cross-staff (crosier) in his left hand while raising his right hand in a gesture of benediction. The effigy is rendered in the flat, linear style characteristic of early 13th-century Friesach coinage. A circular legend in Latin script runs between two concentric beaded borders surrounding the central design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Frontal facing head surmounted by a ducal hat (ducal coronet), rendered in bold, simplified relief typical of Friesach-type bracteate-influenced coinage. The head is centrally placed within the field, framed by an outer border composed of a ring of lines and a beaded (pearl) circle, emphasizing the hierarchical dignity of the ducal authority depicted. |
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| Additional information |
Friesach, in the Salzburg archbishopric's sphere of commercial influence, became the dominant mint for high-grade silver coinage in the eastern Alpine trade network during the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. The "Friesacher Pfennig" type spread so widely — into Hungary, the Balkans, and the Crusader states — that dozens of ecclesiastical and secular lords struck imitations, making precise attribution of individual pieces a persistent problem. This example is catalogued as Carinthian but cannot be assigned to a specific mint with certainty, a situation common across the CNA Cj series.