Medieval Europe ,1100-1500AD.Gilded Bracteate coin ** UNPUBLISHED TYPE **

Medieval Europe ,1100-1500AD.Gold-plated bronze Bracteate coin ** UNPUBLISHED TYPE **

21mm 1,1gr

Full gilded !

Extremely fine details!

Last picture is before claning,and revers is partialy cleaned to guarantee the authenticity of this coin.

Bracteates were doubtless the most curious and interesting types of coins among the pfennigs of the Middle Ages. Whereas traditional pfennigs bore different images on obverse and reverse, bracteates were minted on one side only. Their obverse showed the image as embossed relief, while on the reverse it was indented. Additionally, most images on bracteates were strictly symmetric. This allowed to break the coins neatly in two, for this is what people did in order to get small change. Bracteates were issued for local circulation. The ephemerality of these coins stood in harsh contrast to their high quality – a quality that medieval coinage  reached neither before nor after ever again. For far trade or long-term use, bracteates were too fragile. In economically developed regions they therefore never achieved acceptance. In those parts of Germany, people preferred the solid twosided pfennigs.