Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXIII 14-15 Jan 2020
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GERMANY, Anhalt (Margrafschaft). Albrecht der Bär. 1123-1170. AR Bracteate (27mm, 0.86 g). Wegeleben, Ballenstedt, or Aschersleben mint. Half-length figure of Albrecht facing, holding sword in right hand and banner in left, within domed arch between two towers / Incuse of obverse. Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe 179; Kestner 1753; Bonhoff 538; Löbbecke 394. Toned. EF. Rare.
From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins. Ex Künker 138 (11 March 2008), lot 6339.
Although not known as such at the time (they were probably know as some form of denier or pfennig), later numismatists called these wafer-thin coins bracteates, from the Latin bractea (for leaf, or thin metal sheet). Bracteates served as the standard denomination of Central Europe between the 12th and 14th centuries. As weights were reduced and flans became increasingly paper thin the process of ghosting, whereby a faint image of either the obverse or reverse would appear. To counteract this, German moneyers devised dies that would produce a repoussé coin with a high relief obverse and a reverse that was the incuse of the obverse. These bracteates demonstrate some of the highest numismatic talent and are true masterpieces of medieval art. As such, they were avidly collected by numismatists of German medieval coinage in the modern period (see the important bracteate collections of Dannenberg, Löbbecke, Vogel, Bonhoff, and the Kestner Museum).
CNG is pleased to present an offering of German bracteates from the collections of Richard A. Jourdan and Dr. William J. Conte. Several of these coins are of exceptional quality with pedigrees to the beginning of last century. They are extraordinary specimens of the medieval German moneyers' art.
From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins. Ex Künker 138 (11 March 2008), lot 6339.
Although not known as such at the time (they were probably know as some form of denier or pfennig), later numismatists called these wafer-thin coins bracteates, from the Latin bractea (for leaf, or thin metal sheet). Bracteates served as the standard denomination of Central Europe between the 12th and 14th centuries. As weights were reduced and flans became increasingly paper thin the process of ghosting, whereby a faint image of either the obverse or reverse would appear. To counteract this, German moneyers devised dies that would produce a repoussé coin with a high relief obverse and a reverse that was the incuse of the obverse. These bracteates demonstrate some of the highest numismatic talent and are true masterpieces of medieval art. As such, they were avidly collected by numismatists of German medieval coinage in the modern period (see the important bracteate collections of Dannenberg, Löbbecke, Vogel, Bonhoff, and the Kestner Museum).
CNG is pleased to present an offering of German bracteates from the collections of Richard A. Jourdan and Dr. William J. Conte. Several of these coins are of exceptional quality with pedigrees to the beginning of last century. They are extraordinary specimens of the medieval German moneyers' art.