Gold Fleece - Philip the Handsome early type

Philip the Handsome became Count of Flanders at the age of four upon his mother Mary of Burgundy's death in 1482, though actual governance passed to regents and then to Maximilian I. By the time this coin was struck, Philip was ruling in his own right, his court at Mechelen actively projecting Burgundian dynastic ambition through coinage. The "early type" designation reflects genuine die evolution within a short striking window before Philip's design program shifted.

Philip died in 1506 at twenty-eight, leaving his son Charles — the future Charles V — to inherit Flanders and, eventually, half of Europe.