A silver cross Otto III denarius has been found near Kamień Pomorski. The coin is characterized by high quality silver and precise workmanship, the Museum of History of Kamień Pomorski Land (MHZK) reported. 

The coin was discovered by a member of the St. Cordula Society during a legal search with a metal detector. It is an OTTO and ADELAIDE cross denarius with a shrine and cross motif. 

Early medieval cross denarii, including the famous Otto III denarii, are “among the most interesting numismatic relics discovered in the Polish lands,” the MHZK stresses. 

The coin is distinguished by a consistent iconographic program that combined religious and political symbolism. The coin’s obverse features a cross in the central part, symbolizing the sacred foundations of imperial power, and emphasizing the Christian character of Otto III’s rule and his idea of a universalist empire in which secular and spiritual power worked together in harmony. The arms of the cross bear the letters ODDO – an abbreviation of Otto’s name and the inscription in the rim DI GRA REX, which can be read as Dei Gratia Rex (Latin for “By the Grace of God, King”). The reverse of the coin depicts a shrine, which may have symbolized the Church, reliquaries or places of worship, emphasizing the emperor’s close connection to Christianity. The rim bears the inscription ADELHEIT, referring to Queen Adelaide, wife of Otto I and grandmother of Otto III. 

Otto III’s denarii are not the only coins of this type discovered in Poland. Coins of other German emperors, as well as Anglo-Saxon denarii, Arab dirhams or Czech denarii, also appear frequently among numismatic treasures. The inscriptions, combined with the iconography of the shrine and cross, made these coins peculiar “carriers of ideology” and political propaganda that circulated throughout Europe, museum experts explain.