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2 Florins - Siege of 1584-1585
| Issuer | City of Brussels (Siege Mint) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1584 |
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| Currency | Gulden (1506-1713) |
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| Obverse description | Irregular square gold klippe struck on a thin, crudely cut planchet with folded and uneven edges, characteristic of emergency siege coinage. The central field is defined by a raised diamond-shaped border formed by the inner edges of the klippe. Within this diamond, the Latin inscription is arranged in six horizontal lines reading: 8·4 / D·O·M· / BRVXEL· / LA·CONFIR / MATA· / Z·G·, with pellet stops separating the abbreviated words. The abbreviation D·O·M· stands for Deo Optimo Maximo (To God, Best and Greatest), BRVXELLA CONFIRMATA denotes Brussels confirmed, and Z·G· signifies 2 Gulden (Twee Gulden). The lettering is bold and raised in relief, executed in a plain Roman capital style consistent with the hasty manufacture of siege money during the Spanish siege of 1584–1585. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Uniface bracteate reverse showing the incuse mirror impression of the obverse legend and diamond border, visible as a faint, sunken relief against the plain hammered gold surface. The field is uneven and shows the characteristic distortion of a thin gold sheet struck by a single die, with irregular folds and creases at the corners and edges of the planchet. No additional devices, legends, or mint marks are present on this side, consistent with the bracteate technique employed for this emergency issue produced under the exigencies of the siege of Brussels. |
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| Additional information |
Brussels struck emergency coinage during the siege laid by Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, whose methodical strangulation of the city's supply lines beginning in 1584 eventually forced capitulation in March 1585. The mint operated under extreme material constraints — gold of irregular fineness was sourced locally, which accounts for the weight inconsistencies documented across surviving examples of this type.
Farnese's siege of Brussels is often overshadowed by his subsequent reduction of Antwerp later that same year, but the Brussels coinage is considerably rarer.