Poland, Duchy of Kraków, Wladyslaw Laskonogi (?), brakteat, type "2 lilies".
Two lilies stand under two arcades supported by a column, topped by a small turret with a single window and a pointed roof; on the sides of the turret two balls, in a section imitation of the Hebrew inscription ברכה (bracha - blessing) in mirror image.
Silver, 0.09 g, 13.9 mm. Haczewska 16; Gorlinska 41. rare - known are approx. 10 copies. Ex Desa Kraków 211, no. 520.
Condition II+, minimal edge cracking, patina.
Of the Kraków series of brakteates from the 1st half of the 13th century, three bore imitations of the Hebrew inscription. Guided by the symbolism of the lily and the occurrence of such an inscription, Dobrochna Gorlinska suggests that this type belongs to Wladyslaw Laskonogi, reigning in Cracow in 1202 (perhaps until 1206) and in the years 1227-1231. The lilies in the arcade here replaced the more common depiction of the ruler with his wife in a Romanesque biforium, so Wladyslaw with Lucia, or perhaps Wladyslaw together with Henry the Bearded ruling in Cracow on his behalf.
