GERMANY. Freiburg, Grafen von Urach-Freiburg. temp. Egino IV – Egino V, 1218-1236. Vierzipfliger Pfennig (Silver, 18 mm, 0.38 g). Male head to left, cross and pellet in left field. Rev. Male head to left, pellet in left field. Wielandt (Breisgau) 12. Wüthrich -. Ulmer 228. An exceedingly rare and nicely toned two-sided issue of great numismatic interest. Ragged edge, otherwise, very fine.



This coin is a technical oddity of the highest order. All pieces that Matzke attributes to the Counts of Freiburg-Urach are struck on only one side (cf. Michael Matzke, “Mittelalterliche Bergbauprägungen in Südwestdeutschland?”, in: Dirham und Rappenpfennig 2, Bonn 2004, p. 83). That comes as no surprise. In Freiburg and throughout the Breisgau - as in other bracteate-minting regions of the 12th century - the traditional two-sided thin pfennigs were gradually replaced by single-sided bracteates. The flans were simply too thin to take clean impressions on both sides; striking the second design typically blurred or flattened the first. That, at least, is the widely accepted explanation for the emergence of bracteates and these single-sided Vierzipflige (“four-lobed”) issues.

This piece, however, breaks the pattern. It bears a type normally struck on only one face, yet here both sides are fully impressed - and from two different dies, effectively ruling out a simple mishap such as a flip-over double strike. A handful of other examples on the market point to this underexplored practice, but for this specific Freiburg-Urach type we found only a single possible parallel - and even that specimen does not conclusively show two distinct dies (Sonntag 20, 9 December 2014, 1003).

Why both striking methods were employed remains an open question. Even so, the coin stands as a small feat of medieval minting skill - something its rough, almost rustic engraving might otherwise conceal. It manages to carry two crisp designs on a thin flan without one impression destroying the other. Ultimately, this unusual two-die strike compels us to reconsider the technical range and workshop practices behind bracteate production.