Bracteate

• undated (1225-1245)
• principality of Mecklenburg

In the 13th century the Mecklenburg rulers minted coins for the first time. These coins were bracteates – hollow pfennigs embossed on one side. Without an inscription they showed the head of a bull, the heraldic animal of Mecklenburg. In the field of numismatics these coins are therefore referred to as bull’s head bracteates. They were worth one pfennig (denarius). For comparison: a hen cost two pfennigs in 1280. The coinage of the Mecklenburg rulers Borwin I. (died 1227), Nikolaus (1219-1225) and Johann (1229-1265) has survived. Wismar and Gadebusch were mints of the royal government.