4 Stuivers 'Vlieger / Krabbelaar' - Charles V

The "Vlieger" nickname — meaning kite or flyer — was applied by contemporaries to this denomination based on the spread-eagle design, while "Krabbelaar" (scratcher or scrabbler) was a pejorative used in trade, reflecting suspicion about its silver content. The .618 fineness was deliberately set below the coinage ordinances of neighboring territories, which caused recurring complaints from Flemish and Brabantine merchants who refused it at face value.

Charles V issued this through the Holland mint at Dordrecht during a period when his administration was aggressively harmonizing coinage across the Seventeen Provinces — a project never fully completed before his abdication in 1555.