1/4 Groat - Philip the Handsome

Philip the Handsome — archduke of Austria, duke of Burgundy, and briefly king of Castile — died unexpectedly in September 1506 at age 28, cutting short a reign that had barely consolidated its footing in the Low Countries. This issue falls within his final active year of governance over Brabant, making the production window genuinely narrow. Witte's catalog distinguishes at least two die variants (616 and 617), suggesting the type saw enough mint activity to generate meaningful die rotation despite the compressed timeframe.