The motif of an angel in Polish medieval minting appears very rarely. Such are also the coins with it. Whether it's the Hebrew brakteat of Mieszko III with an angel over an arch, the unique brakteat with a walking angel from our 10th auction (sold for 161,000 zlotys went to the showcases of the Royal Castle) or the one with a heraldic angel, the subject of this auction.
"The showing of this coin is quite a revelation," assessed medieval minting specialist Dr. Witold Garbaczewski. Adding that:
"Currently, it is most likely the only known piece, as the piece from the Zamoyski collection, which was described by Kazimierz Stronczynski, was burned in the Warsaw Uprising." The present piece is additionally a better minted piece than that one, as it contains a full otolith legend.
It is a brakteat known only from the Viennese excavation. A very important discovery for the knowledge of our minting, in November 1850, from the village of Wieniec, which brought many previously unknown types of brakteates to Polish numismatists. Among them was this one. Depicting an angel heralding the good news to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a descending angel, already in a kneeling pose, with outstretched wings, holding in his hand a lily branch symbolizing Mary's virtue and purity.
Unique to this coin is the legend in the rim. The name ALEXANDR included in backwards notation. The name is fully visible, unlike the art presented from the excavation. As we read in Stronczynski's "Former Coins of the Jagiellonian Dynasty": "It is the calendar name of our Leszeks, but whether it belongs to which of them it is difficult to say."
Piece minted on both sides on a thin disc, the so-called half-bracteat. Images of the reverse side less clear, with weaker legibility. According to Prof. Boris Pashkevich, they are the same as the expressions of the obverse: "the same inscription and the same figure".
So far it has been considered an issue from the Mazovian area, attributed to Leszek Boleslawovic (1173-1186). Dr. Garbaczewski's preliminary analysis attributes it, due to its technique and style, to the late 12th-13th century, from the most likely Kuyavian-Masovian circle. The exact attribution of this coin is still an open question.
Beautiful state of preservation. Practically showing no traces of circulation.
The only known piece.
