Struck during the Spanish siege of 1578, this is among the earliest documented examples of emergency coinage produced in the Low Countries during the Eighty Years' War. Amsterdam had not yet joined the revolt — that came in 1578 with the Alteratie — and the city's loyalties during this particular siege remain a contested point among Dutch monetary historians. The "solder pot" designation refers to the crude casting method used when proper minting equipment was unavailable or inaccessible under siege conditions.
Delmonte's cataloguing of this type remains the primary reference, though surviving specimens vary considerably in flan regularity as a direct consequence of that casting process.
Struck during the Spanish siege of 1578, this is among the earliest documented examples of emergency coinage produced in the Low Countries during the Eighty Years' War. Amsterdam had not yet joined the revolt — that came in 1578 with the Alteratie — and the city's loyalties during this particular siege remain a contested point among Dutch monetary historians. The "solder pot" designation refers to the crude casting method used when proper minting equipment was unavailable or inaccessible under siege conditions.
Delmonte's cataloguing of this type remains the primary reference, though surviving specimens vary considerably in flan regularity as a direct consequence of that casting process.