Patagon - Charles I

Arches-Charleville was a tiny sovereign principality wedged between the Spanish Netherlands and the French border, ruled in the early seventeenth century by Charles de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers, who had acquired the territory and its minting rights through inheritance. His decision to strike patagons — the heavy silver trade coins then dominating commerce across the Spanish Netherlands — was a calculated assertion of those rights rather than a response to any genuine monetary need. The principality's output was minuscule compared to the great mints at Antwerp or Brussels.

KM#1 for this issuer is the sole recorded type, which itself speaks to how briefly and narrowly the mint operated.