2 Mites 'Korte' - Philip II

Philip II inherited Guelders through the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, which bundled it into the Habsburg Netherlands against the fierce resistance of a duchy that had spent decades fighting Burgundian absorption. The korte — a small copper fraction — was among the lowest denominations in circulation, the coin most likely to pass through the hands of someone who never handled silver in a given week. Philip's Guelders issues of this period predate the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt by just a few years; by 1566 the region would be consumed by iconoclasm and insurgency.

Van der Chijs reference 28.45 distinguishes several die variants within this type.