The patagon was introduced under the Spanish Habsburg administration of the Low Countries in the late sixteenth century and became the workhorse trade coin of the region — widely accepted across northern Europe and the Levant. Artois, then firmly under Spanish control, struck under Philip IV's authority as part of the broader provincial coinage system that kept Flemish commercial networks functioning during the Thirty Years' War.
The double patagon is notably scarce relative to the single denomination. Artois itself was ceded to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, ending its role as a Spanish minting authority entirely.
The patagon was introduced under the Spanish Habsburg administration of the Low Countries in the late sixteenth century and became the workhorse trade coin of the region — widely accepted across northern Europe and the Levant. Artois, then firmly under Spanish control, struck under Philip IV's authority as part of the broader provincial coinage system that kept Flemish commercial networks functioning during the Thirty Years' War.
The double patagon is notably scarce relative to the single denomination. Artois itself was ceded to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, ending its role as a Spanish minting authority entirely.