The scheepjesschelling — the "little ship shilling" — was a workhorse denomination in the Dutch provincial monetary system, struck for trade and daily commerce across the maritime economy of the northern provinces. West Friesland maintained its own minting authority throughout the seventeenth century, and Dirck Bosch served as mintmaster at Hoorn during this period, his initials the expected mark on regular production pieces. The absence of the BP monogram here is the key diagnostic: it places this strike outside normal output.
Piedforts were not struck for circulation. At double the production weight, this piece was almost certainly made as a presentation strike or assay-related specimen — a category West Frisian mints produced only sporadically.
The scheepjesschelling — the "little ship shilling" — was a workhorse denomination in the Dutch provincial monetary system, struck for trade and daily commerce across the maritime economy of the northern provinces. West Friesland maintained its own minting authority throughout the seventeenth century, and Dirck Bosch served as mintmaster at Hoorn during this period, his initials the expected mark on regular production pieces. The absence of the BP monogram here is the key diagnostic: it places this strike outside normal output.
Piedforts were not struck for circulation. At double the production weight, this piece was almost certainly made as a presentation strike or assay-related specimen — a category West Frisian mints produced only sporadically.