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When Otto III (980-1002) came to the German throne in 983, he was only three years old. Against expectation his grandmother Adelhaide, Otto I’s widow, acted as regent in his place and coins were issued with both of their names. The design was loosely based on earlier coins issued within the old Frankish Kingdom which showed a classical temple, but the design was “modernized” to show a modern German wood church. The majority of Otto III’s coins were coined in Goslar in Sachsen. This reflects the discovery of silver near Rammelsberg in Harzen earlier in the tenth century. From the 960s and till the end of the eleventh century silver from the Rammelsberg mines was in high demand. It was originally used for the German coins, but it is likely that many Northern European coins were actually made of German silver. |
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