1/2 Liard 'Gigot' - Charles II Early type

The "gigot" designation — from the French word for a leg of mutton — refers to the shape of the fleur-de-lis elements on these small Brabantine coins, a nickname that stuck through popular usage rather than any official terminology. Charles II of Spain, as Duke of Brabant, issued these under the Spanish Netherlands administration at a moment when the duchy's coinage was subject to repeated revaluations driven by chronic fiscal pressure from Madrid. The Southern Netherlands mints were perpetually underfunded, and copper fractional pieces like this saw heavy circulation among the laboring poor while silver disappeared into hoarding.