A lot of the German medieval coins of the Romanesque period (say up to 1250), were issued by bishops and many portray their cathedrals on their coins. Some of these Romanesque cathedrals when comparatively quite new were partly demolished to make way for their Gothic successors which stand even now. Thus some of these coins are topographical illustrations of Romanesque architecture. There is a lot of interest in topography and it is a neglected area.
The other point of interest is that of all coins they are a fiend to catalogue. The unsung cataloguer is Paul Wood (tel: 0794 1434773) who is ex-Sotheby’s coin department and
is working on his own. If you want to know about European medieval and other material (he was responsible for the extensive Russian catalogue sold about two years ago) go to him.
These German coins are the most comprehensive group to appear since the Bornhoff (Peus, Frankfurt,) sale of 1977-78 and the Leu (Zurich) sale of 1959-60.
A bracteate is a definition not used before the 17th century for coins, mainly silver, which are quite thin (and, therefore, fragile and quite rare in good condition) and struck with just one design in positive with its corresponding negative. These are typical in Germany from the 12th century. There was a fine topographical example of Brandenburg (1157-84). It is a particularly nice example and it was estimated at £1000-1500. It made £1100. The Counts of Arnstein, Walter II, actually (1135-7) contributed their numismatic architecture. This bracteate made £370.
No b-side to holy see side
UK: ONE of the more interesting features of the last sale at Sotheby’s (10 per cent buyer’s premium) on May 2 and 3 was the collection of German medieval coins formed by Beat Konrad Graf Reuttner von Weyl (d. 1969). This dispersal is interesting on two counts.
