2 Stuivers

West Friesland struck these small silver pieces during a period when the Dutch Republic's monetary system was a controlled chaos of overlapping provincial coinages, each Generality mint nominally bound by the Union of Utrecht's 1579 coinage resolutions but in practice issuing on its own schedule. The Enkhuizen and Hoorn mints both contributed to this type, which accounts for the extended production window and the subtle die variations collectors track under the KM#21.1 umbrella.

The .583 fineness was a deliberate compromise — fine enough for public confidence, cheap enough to produce in volume for daily retail trade in the herring and textile markets that drove West Frisian commerce.