Lübeck hollow penny from the late Middle Ages

The coin used in the ship as a lucky charm was CT-scanned at the Frauenhofer IMTE Lübeck at the beginning of March. The high-resolution image obtained now finally provides a clue to the provenance of the coin. It is possibly a Lübeck hollow penny, a small, extremely thin silver coin minted on only one side, from the 14th/15th century. In the late Middle Ages, the motif "king's head with curls" was very frequently used in Lübeck when minting these coins, whereby the head is naturally crowned. This crown and long hair are also visible in the scan. This provides further evidence that the ship was built in Lübeck.

Corresponding coins can be viewed in the online finding aid of the city archive.

Photo: F. Rösch