Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 464 25 Mar 2020
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GERMANY, Thüringia (Landgrafschaft). Ludwig III der Fromme (the Pious). 1172-1190. AR Bracteate (44mm, 0.87 g). Gotha mint. + LVDЄVVICHVS • PROVINCIALIS • COMЄS • A, Ludwig, in full armor, right on caparisoned horse, holding banner in right hand and shield in left; to left, small quatrefoil above small cross pattée with central pellet in incuse in each bar / Incuse of obverse. Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe p. 124; Kestner 2201-2; Bonhoff 1308-10. Cleaned, now retoning, ragged edge, areas of loss. Good VF.
From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins, purchased from Chuck Wolfe, 1999.
In the twelfth century, 'German coinage developed on two distinct lines, behind both of which lay the continued decline in weight of the penny which had begun a good deal earlier. One took the form of a contraction in the size of the flan, the coins remaining two-sided in the traditional fashion... The other tendency took the form of an increase in the size of the die-face and flan alike, resulting in coin so thin that the deign of the upper die left that of the lower die (obverse) confused and virtually illegible. The resulting coins are known as half-bracteates. Out of these evolved in turn full bracteates, struck by a single die only. These coins are sometimes of 'normal' size, i.e. up to about 2cm in diameter, but in Thuringia, by the close of the twelfth century, they had reached pathological proportions' and 'extremely fine workmanship.' Grierson, p. 62.
From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins, purchased from Chuck Wolfe, 1999.
In the twelfth century, 'German coinage developed on two distinct lines, behind both of which lay the continued decline in weight of the penny which had begun a good deal earlier. One took the form of a contraction in the size of the flan, the coins remaining two-sided in the traditional fashion... The other tendency took the form of an increase in the size of the die-face and flan alike, resulting in coin so thin that the deign of the upper die left that of the lower die (obverse) confused and virtually illegible. The resulting coins are known as half-bracteates. Out of these evolved in turn full bracteates, struck by a single die only. These coins are sometimes of 'normal' size, i.e. up to about 2cm in diameter, but in Thuringia, by the close of the twelfth century, they had reached pathological proportions' and 'extremely fine workmanship.' Grierson, p. 62.