1/2 Groat 'Braspenning' - John the Fearless

John the Fearless inherited Flanders from his father Philip the Bold in 1404 and immediately faced the competing monetary pressures of financing his Burgundian ambitions while managing the heavily commercialized Flemish economy, which demanded reliable small silver for textile trade settlements. The braspenning — literally "brass penny," a name that stuck despite the silver composition — occupied the lowest tier of the Flemish silver coinage and circulated hard through market towns like Ghent and Bruges.

John was assassinated on the bridge at Montereau in 1419, and this type did not survive him long as a current denomination.