Philip the Good struck this issue during his regency over Holland, a title he held following the death of William VI's daughter Jacqueline of Bavaria — or rather, amid the prolonged political struggle to wrest it from her. The "Klinckaert" designation derives from the Dutch verb for clinking, a vernacular nickname earned from the coin's sharp, high-pitched ring when dropped on stone, a quality Flemish merchants used as a quick test of gold purity in market transactions.
The .708 fineness places it below the standard of Philip's Burgundian ducats, a deliberate concession to Dutch monetary customs of the period rather than a debasement.
Philip the Good struck this issue during his regency over Holland, a title he held following the death of William VI's daughter Jacqueline of Bavaria — or rather, amid the prolonged political struggle to wrest it from her. The "Klinckaert" designation derives from the Dutch verb for clinking, a vernacular nickname earned from the coin's sharp, high-pitched ring when dropped on stone, a quality Flemish merchants used as a quick test of gold purity in market transactions.
The .708 fineness places it below the standard of Philip's Burgundian ducats, a deliberate concession to Dutch monetary customs of the period rather than a debasement.