Piast Bracteate from Masovia

These Piast bracteates from Masovia were struck on such thin silver sheets that a strong wind might have ruffled them like parchment.

That fragility came from the dukes' need to stretch limited resources, recycling whatever silver scraps they could find in their workshops. Each coin bore a single, embossed design—often a duke's profile or a cross—hammered onto one side only, with the reverse left blank or faintly impressed. No two seemed exactly alike, thanks to the handmade process in places like Płock or Warsaw's early mints.

We don't know the exact numbers produced; records from that era are as scarce as the silver itself. What survives shows variations in size, from about 15 to 25 millimeters, reflecting the dukes' shifting allegiances and resources.

Some collectors prize these for their odd, asymmetrical feel, though I've handled enough to know that one wrong flip can turn a piece into a keepsake of my own clumsiness.