✅ SOLVED Unknown ~800 Year Old Coin

[paleomaxx]

When I can't go detecting I sometime amuse myself by buying and looking through older European coins. This one was particularly odd and I haven't had much luck identifying it:



It was labeled as a Hungarian coin from between 1173 and 1196, but that's all the info with it and I can't find any conclusive matches. It's a uni-face coin (if it even is a coin); the design on the reverse appears to be the negative impression of the figure holding the cross. It's absolutely tiny too, barely 10mm across. The material appears to be billon, and it's in fantastic condition if it is indeed from the 1100s. What do you guys think, anyone recognize it?

 

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[Red-Coat]

I don't doubt the information you had with this coin. It looks to be what is known as a 'bracteate'. These thin coins weren't conventionally struck and have the design as embossed relief on one side only, with the same design indented on the other. They were commonly issued by Germanic states in the Middle Ages, and also in Austria and Hungary.

I'll check the catalogues in a while, but Googling 'Hungarian bracteate' should get you some similar examples and maybe someone will give you a more precise ID in the meantime.

 

[pepperj]

Somebody found one this past season-here it is and the info links.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/643652-medieval-coin-weekend-silvers.html.

 

[pepperj]

Yours is in great shape, congrats

 

[Red-Coat]

Couldn’t find it in my catalogues, but I only looked for Hungary, on the assumption that whoever wrote the original label had properly tracked it somewhere. Maybe they had more comprehensive or specialist catalogues than I have. All I can add at the moment is this.

There are numerous variations for these coins and they often have no legend to help attribute them to a particular ruler. Whoever wrote the label for “between 1173 and 1196” is saying it’s King Béla III (AD 1172 to 1196). Generally, the coins of Béla III are impossible to distinguish from those of Béla IV (AD 1235-1270) but most of them are attributed to the former on balance of probability.

As you may have discovered, the word ‘bracteate’ is the generic term for these coins (from the Latin ‘bractea’, meaning a thin piece of metal). That term wasn't used at the time, and didn't come into usage until the 17th Century. For a Hungarian coin of this period it would have been a ‘denar’, which was usually about 14mm diameter and in silver or debased silver as ‘billon’. Yours, at 10mm, would be almost exactly half the weight of a 14mm coin so it’s probably a half-denar.

 

[paleomaxx]

Couldn’t find it in my catalogues, but I only looked for Hungary, on the assumption that whoever wrote the original label had properly tracked it somewhere. Maybe they had more comprehensive or specialist catalogues than I have. All I can add at the moment is this.

There are numerous variations for these coins and they often have no legend to help attribute them to a particular ruler. Whoever wrote the label for “between 1173 and 1196” is saying it’s King Béla III (AD 1172 to 1196). Generally, the coins of Béla III are impossible to distinguish from those of Béla IV (AD 1235-1270) but most of them are attributed to the former on balance of probability.

As you may have discovered, the word ‘bracteate’ is the generic term for these coins (from the Latin ‘bractea’, meaning a thin piece of metal). That term wasn't used at the time, and didn't come into usage until the 17th Century. For a Hungarian coin of this period it would have been a ‘denar’, which was usually about 14mm diameter and in silver or debased silver as ‘billon’. Yours, at 10mm, would be almost exactly half the weight of a 14mm coin so it’s probably a half-denar.

Great information, very much appreciated! There were about a dozen 11th to 17th century coins all in neatly labeled paper envelopes, but I've been skeptical of the labels since there was an Elizabeth I sixpence labeled as a shilling. Looks like the collection was put together in the 60s or 70s, definitely pre-internet research! Most are at least in the ballpark, but this one had the least information on the envelope so they may have had the most trouble attributing it.

It seems many bracteat were recalled then re-minted at the time so it could be a fairly obscure pattern. Not common by any stretch of the imagination so a pretty nice score I would say. Thank you both for the information!