1/2 Patagon - Philip IV

The half patagon was a workhorse of Spanish Netherlands commerce, circulating across the Habsburg-controlled provinces at a time when Flanders was perpetually hemorrhaging revenue to fund the Thirty Years' War. Philip IV's reign over the Low Countries was administered almost entirely through Brussels viceroys — the king himself never set foot in the region — and the mint output at Bruges reflected the chronic funding crises of the 1620s and 1630s more than any deliberate monetary policy.

The extended date range across four decades means this type spans multiple mint masters and shows considerable die variation documented by Vanhoudt. Collectors working the series distinguish issues by the mint master's privy marks, which shifted several times between 1622 and 1665.