Esterlin with lions - Jean the Blind

Jean the Blind — Jean de Luxembourg, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia — issued these sterlings as part of his broader effort to integrate Luxembourgish monetary policy with the dominant commercial coinage circulating through the Rhine and Meuse trade corridors. The esterlin form itself derived from English sterling prototypes that had flooded continental markets in the late 13th century, prompting local lords to strike imitative and semi-imitative types to retain specie within their own territories.

Jean died at Crécy in 1346, famously ordering his knights to lead him into the French cavalry charge despite being completely blind. The coinage predates that end by years, struck while he was still actively governing Luxembourg between his lengthy absences on Bohemian and crusading business.