Florijn or 28 Stuivers - Lascaris Countermark

The Knights of Saint John, operating from Malta after their expulsion from Rhodes in 1522, faced a persistent problem: their territory produced no silver of its own, forcing the Order to rely on countermarking foreign coinage for local circulation. This particular piece — a Dutch florijn or 28-stuiver coin — was overstruck with the Lascaris mark during the magistracy of Jean-Paul Lascaris de Castellar, who held the position of Grand Master from 1636 until his death in 1657. Countermarking foreign silver was not mere convenience; it was a deliberate assertion of monetary authority over imported specie.

Dutch silver of this weight and fineness circulated widely across the Mediterranean in the mid-seventeenth century, making it a logical candidate for revaluation.