A stylistically beautiful brakteat attributed to the reign of Henry III the White (1248-1266).
Representation: eagle with wings raised, facing left with its beak, above it a building with three towers (the central one wider).
Silver, diameter 26 mm, weight 0.53 g.
Broad brakteates are striking and very rare coins. In Silesia, brakteates were introduced after 1250, and circulated until they were supplanted by the thicker quarto coinage (in the first half of the 14th century). However, they quickly lost their extraordinary size for Polish minting, being reduced to a diameter of less than 20 mm.
Their present-day rarity and multiplicity of types is due to the renovatio monetae. Broad brakteates were minted for less than 50 years, but were replaced with new ones every six months, effectively pulling the old coinage off the market.
