Ducaton

Friesland was the most reluctant of the Dutch provincial mints when it came to ducaton production — the province struck them intermittently and in comparatively small numbers, preferring the rijksdaalder for domestic commerce. The ducaton itself was conceived primarily as a trade instrument for the Baltic and Levantine markets, where Dutch merchants needed heavy silver that foreign counterparts would accept by weight and fineness rather than by political trust.

The Delmonte reference places this among the scarcest provincial ducaton series. Friesland's mint at Leeuwarden operated under chronic underfunding throughout the 1660s.