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1/2 Noble - Philip the Handsome, Regency
| Issuer | Holland, County of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1488 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Reverse description | A highly ornate heraldic cross pattée dominates the central field, its four arms terminating in fleurs-de-lis and ornamented with small lions passant and additional heraldic devices in each quarter. A richly detailed crowned shield bearing the quartered arms of the Habsburg-Burgundian dominions is placed at the center of the cross. The four quadrants between the arms of the cross are each filled with a crowned lion, referencing the County of Holland. The composition is enclosed within a cusped Gothic quatrefoil inner border, and the surrounding circular legend in Gothic uncial script reads: REFORMACIO × POST × GUERRA × PAX × Ao 1488, proclaiming that peace is the reformation after war, with the date 1488. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Philip the Handsome was just eight years old in 1488, which meant real authority rested with the Regency Council operating in his name following the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482. That year was also the height of the crisis in which Maximilian of Habsburg — Philip's father and Mary's widower — was actually captured and imprisoned by the citizens of Bruges, forcing him to sign the Treaty of Senlis under duress. Coinage struck under the Regency carried Philip's name as a deliberate assertion of dynastic continuity during a period of acute political instability in the Low Countries.
The fraction's high gold fineness of .952 aligns with the standards inherited from Burgundian monetary ordinances rather than any local Holland initiative.