One of the prettiest pieces of this historically important brakteate. Brilliantly minted, without the scarcity common to them, with natural mint luster. Beautiful.
A coin that was once called a penance coin, seeing in it a reference to Prince Boleslaw's pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Adalbert in Gniezno in 1113. It referred to penance for the blinding and death of his older brother, Zbigniew. It was not until the discovery of the treasure in 1932 and its analysis by Ryszard Kiersnowski that new light was shed on its iconography.
Kiersnowski linked it to Krzywousty's manifesto after the Polish prince paid tribute in Merseburg before Emperor Lotar III. He dated the event to around 1135. The iconography was said to proclaim that the Polish prince was under the protection of St. Adalbert, hence the designation of brakteats of this type as protective.
The wide disc of the brakteat was an excellent means for this, since, while retaining the weight of the denarius, it was almost 2.5 times its diameter, allowing for a much better use of the coin as a means of manifestation.
Another light on the essence of its issue is shed by the latest research of W. Garbaczewski, who sees it as the result of a monetary reform from the end of Boleslaw's reign, the purpose of which was to replenish the treasury to pay tribute to Lotar III, and dates the type to 1137. More at gndm.pl/knowledge.
According to our analysis (D. Marciniak), the coin may be an issue of Bolesław Kędzierzawy (not Krzywousty), but this thesis still requires further research and analysis.
Silver, diameter 25 x 27.5 mm, weight 0.22 g.
