1572 - Stamps on diagonal axis -
1572 - Stamps on short axis -
附加信息
Haarlem held out against Spanish forces for seven months before surrendering in July 1573 — one of the most brutal sieges of the Dutch Revolt. This obsidional piece was struck from silver plate or melted ecclesiastical metal, as was common practice when a besieged city needed to pay its garrison and the normal supply of coinage had long since dried up. The three countermarks indicate successive authorizations, a procedural necessity when the city council needed to vouch for improvised currency whose intrinsic value could not be guaranteed by normal assay.
Haarlem held out against Spanish forces for seven months before surrendering in July 1573 — one of the most brutal sieges of the Dutch Revolt. This obsidional piece was struck from silver plate or melted ecclesiastical metal, as was common practice when a besieged city needed to pay its garrison and the normal supply of coinage had long since dried up. The three countermarks indicate successive authorizations, a procedural necessity when the city council needed to vouch for improvised currency whose intrinsic value could not be guaranteed by normal assay.