GERMANY. Breisgau. Herren von Staufen, 1300-1350. Vierzipfliger Pfennig (Silver, 18 mm, 0.36 g), Münster im Thale, circa 1300-1350. Elephant walking to left, carrying a castle. Rev. Incuse of obverse. Berger 2438. Matzke 167. Wielandt (Breisgau) 50. Wüthrich 55. Beautifully toned. Nearly extremely fine.


These mysterious elephant bracteates have sparked scholarly speculation for quite some time. What is certain, however, is that these bracteates - struck only for a brief period - reflect clear Swiss influence. Their most likely prototypes were the Schaffhausen bracteates, which featured a ram rather than an elephant (Buchenau 125. HMZ 1-423). The unusual motif - an elephant topped with a structure resembling a castle. actually appears more frequently in the medieval Breisgau region than one might expect. A nearly identical elephant, for instance, can be seen on the heraldic tapestry from the Adelhauser convent in Freiburg (cf. H. Schweitzer: Stickereien in der städtischen Altertumssammlung in Freiburg, Freiburg 1904, p. 43).

The image of the elephant ultimately traces back to the widespread medieval versions of the Alexander Romance, in which the legendary palace of the Indian Queen Kandace is said to have been drawn by 36 elephants (cf. Wielandt (Breisgau), p. 57).

Yet the precise meaning of the elephant as a bracteate motif remains unclear, placing it among the many enigmatic animal symbols found in medieval iconography.