1/2 Rijksdaalder '1/2 Leicesterrijksdaalder'

These pieces owe their existence entirely to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who arrived in the Dutch Republic in late 1585 as Elizabeth I's appointed Governor-General. The States of Holland authorized emergency silver coinage to pay his English troops — soldiers who would not accept the existing provincial issues at face value. The arrangement collapsed almost immediately. Leicester's governance was a political disaster, and he departed in disgrace in 1587, leaving behind a coinage struck across barely two years.

Holland struck these under direct pressure from the English command, which is why the type sits outside the normal provincial minting sequence entirely.