A rare variant of a medieval button bracteate from the Usedom mint, dated to the late 13th century. An interesting example of minor coinage from Western Pomerania, distinguished by its characteristic depiction of a knight’s helmet with five feathers.
Usedom was an important centre in medieval Western Pomerania. Its local bracteate coinage provides fascinating evidence of the political and economic fragmentation of the region and the development of local monetary circulation during the 13th century.
The central motif is a knight’s helmet facing right, surmounted by five feathers. The design is distinctly heraldic in character, typical of the iconography found on medieval Pomeranian bracteates.
Of particular note is the rarer variant with the helmet facing right. Kopicki records an analogous type with the helmet facing left, but does not list the present variety with the design oriented in the opposite direction.
Diameter 17 mm, weight 0.25 g
