The most beautifully preserved piece of this rare and interesting brakteate we had on offer.
Beautiful luster. Charming patina.
Brakteate with a depiction of a bishop in a robe and infula, with a pastoral and a thick cross.
A figure in which modern researchers see Saint Stanislaus, and the issuance of this coin is linked to the promotion of the cult of the bishop-martyr after 1253.
As W. Garbaczewski describes it, "If we assume that this is a Malopolska issue from around the middle of the 13th century (as indicated by old finds), then either St. Stanislaus or Bishop Prandota of Cracow is depicted on the stamp (however, there are no sources to support such a point of view). A variation of this bracteate is known, where two crowned heads appear in the rim - presumably of the prince and his wife. Such a hierarchical diminution of the symbol of princely power against a half-poster with a pastoral would only be possible if we were dealing here with St. Stanislaus.
There is a relatively high degree of consensus in the literature to date on the attribution and time of issue of this coin, but the matter is not at all that simple. For if it was minted at the same mint and at the same time as the "St. Stanislaus/St. Adalbert" denarius, why are the "factories" of the two coins so different? And why does the manner in which this brakteate was made bring it closer to coins from a broad, unspecified group attributed to the princes of Kuyavia, Mazovia or Greater Poland."
Silver, diameter 17.5 mm, weight 0.14 g.
