Haarlem held out against Spanish forces for seven months during the 1572–1573 siege, one of the longest and most brutal of the Dutch Revolt. When conventional coin supplies collapsed, the city's authorities authorized emergency coinage struck from whatever silver could be sourced locally — plate, ecclesiastical objects, and bullion scraped together under blockade conditions. These obsidional pieces were legal tender within the walls and functioned as a de facto declaration that the city intended to outlast the siege.
It did not. Haarlem surrendered in July 1573 after famine made further resistance impossible. The Delmonte S#142a attribution places this among the documented stamp varieties, distinguished by the specific die combination used across the four-stamp striking process.
Haarlem held out against Spanish forces for seven months during the 1572–1573 siege, one of the longest and most brutal of the Dutch Revolt. When conventional coin supplies collapsed, the city's authorities authorized emergency coinage struck from whatever silver could be sourced locally — plate, ecclesiastical objects, and bullion scraped together under blockade conditions. These obsidional pieces were legal tender within the walls and functioned as a de facto declaration that the city intended to outlast the siege.
It did not. Haarlem surrendered in July 1573 after famine made further resistance impossible. The Delmonte S#142a attribution places this among the documented stamp varieties, distinguished by the specific die combination used across the four-stamp striking process.