1 Ducaton Piedfort

A piedfort — double the standard planchet thickness — was never intended for commerce. These were presentation pieces, struck for dignitaries, foreign envoys, and the provincial States themselves as ceremonial proof of the die. Zeeland, perpetually asserting its autonomy within the Dutch Republic, had particular reason to commission them: the province controlled the critical Scheldt estuary tolls and used high-status numismatic gifts as diplomatic currency with the same calculation it applied to actual trade policy.

The Delmonte S#1024a classification places this among the rarer documented piedfort strikings of the provincial ducaton series. Surviving examples almost never show circulation wear — the question is always die state and edge integrity.