Tunsberg
Tunsberg
Above: lead plate with imprint of three S-bracteate dies (bracteate sampler) Below: penny from Eirik Magnusson
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Eirik
Magnusson (1280-1299) is the only coin
issuer who unambiguously specifies Tunsberg as a mint site in coin inscriptions:
CASTRUM TUNSBERGIS. Since "castrum" means "fort" in Latin, this indicates
that the coins were struck at the fort Tunsberghus.
It has been suggested that coins were minted in Tunsberg during the reign of Sverre Sigurdsson (1177-1202). The hypothesis is based on the occurrence of the letter T as a motif on bracteates. It is not clear, however, whether these bracteate letters indicate the mint, the issuing authority or something else. A bracteate sampler from King Sverre's reign was found in Tønsberg ? a small, thin copper plate with three imprints of S inside two regular circles. The trouble with this is that the imprints are of the letter S and not T, as many had hoped and expected to find in Tønsberg.
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