Sterling - Robert III bust facing

Robert III of Flanders — known as Robert of Béthune — struck these sterlings during a period of acute political tension with France following the Flemish victory at Courtrai in 1302. The facing bust format was borrowed deliberately from English sterling coinage, a choice that signaled Flanders' commercial alignment with English wool traders at a moment when French suzerainty was being actively contested. Flemish counts had economic incentive to keep their currency credible in English markets, and imitating London's trusted silver type was policy, not imitation for its own sake.