1/2 Gold Rider ARG

Zeeland struck its own gold riders independently of the generality coinage throughout much of the seventeenth century, a prerogative jealously guarded by the provincial estates. The 1625 date places this piece squarely in the middle of the Twelve Years' Truce's collapse — hostilities with Spain had resumed in 1621, and the province's maritime revenues, already strained by the costs of the Dutch East India Company's early expansion, were under considerable pressure. Provincial gold of this period was minted in relatively small runs, and Zeeland's output was consistently the lowest among the Holland-dominated provinces.

HPM Ze23.1 is the primary catalogued die marriage for this type; documented variants are few.