The "bezemstuiver" — broom stuiver — takes its nickname from the bundle of arrows on the reverse struck in incuse rather than relief, an anomaly almost certainly caused by a clashed die that was left in service uncorrected. Holland's provincial mint in Dordrecht was notoriously inconsistent in die maintenance during the latter half of the seventeenth century, and these misfires entered circulation without recall.
The incuse reverse is not a deliberate design choice but a production accident — making it a mint error that survived official inspection.
The "bezemstuiver" — broom stuiver — takes its nickname from the bundle of arrows on the reverse struck in incuse rather than relief, an anomaly almost certainly caused by a clashed die that was left in service uncorrected. Holland's provincial mint in Dordrecht was notoriously inconsistent in die maintenance during the latter half of the seventeenth century, and these misfires entered circulation without recall.
The incuse reverse is not a deliberate design choice but a production accident — making it a mint error that survived official inspection.