Esterlin with lions - Wenceslaus I Montmédy mint

Wenceslaus I ruled Luxembourg as a minor power caught between the ambitions of the Valois kings of France and the broader interests of the House of Luxembourg, which simultaneously held the Bohemian crown and produced Holy Roman Emperors. His esterlins directly imitate the English sterling penny form that had dominated northern European small change since the late thirteenth century — not through any English connection, but because the type had become the trusted commercial currency of the Low Countries and Rhineland trading networks. Montmédy, a fortified town on the Chiers river, served as one of his secondary minting sites, making this a notably scarcer product than the principal Luxembourg issues.