How Far Back Can We Go? Fifth Edition! Ended At 1461 Waiting On 1460 C. E. (A. H. 864)

Scary comb-over on Charles IX!

For >40 yrs I collected nothing else ! Old silver can be magic, when the teeth of time are gentle and tone a coin in a wonderful though often imperfect manner. But I recently started to collect old copper too; copper has different qualities and shows other effects of time.

1609 is the year that the 12 year truce was signed between the Archdukes Albert and Isabella Clara Eugenia. Below a copy of the first page of the signed document, now present in the National Archives in The Hague (Staten-Generaal, nummer toegang 1.01.02, inventarisnummer 12588.20).



We'll see during the next weeks with copper and silver pieces some evidence of a prolonged period of hostilities that divided and impoverished the wealthy 17 Provinces (current Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg and Northern France); ripping the region into pieces that would never completely unite again.

However, the 12 year truce (1609-1621) brought back some rest so that the Northern and Southern provinces could breathe and return to normal life.

Below three copper jetons from 1609. The first two (Dugn.3647 and Dugn.3658) are from the Spanish Netherlands; the third (Dugn.3651) is from the revolting United Provinces.

Dugn.3647 praises the wisdom of the archdukes: SAPIENTIA DUCE



Dugn.3648 from the chamber of finances of Brabant shows the Lion again as symbol of strength of the Spanish Netherlands



Dugn.3651 want to make the statement of a wake up call, warning against too much confidence in a truce with the enemy
obverse: sleeping soldier between a drum and armature QVISCO and Roman date
reverse: Mercurius pulls the ears of the soldier to wake him up PLVS VICILA

Here is a Double Tournoi from the French County of Nevers-Rethel dated AD 1609:

1609 -- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth / Kingdom of Poland, 1 groschen:

some of the Dutch jetons from the year 1608 have a political meaning and allude to the negotiations that were place to prepare the 12 year truce ; the North (on the winning side at that moment) was divided and many were against a truce

here is one example from the province of Zeeland with a nice array of coats-of-arms of the Zeeland cities; the most interesting part is the reverse: a warning against the truce which is depicted as a new type of Trojan horse



an other example from the province of Ghelders with on the obverse the enigmatic Ostrich; one interpretation is that this emblem-like picture is a warning against the hypocrisy of the diplomats of the Spanish Netherlands



the second jeton was discussed in detail in another thread
http://goccf.com/t/336420&whichpage=3#2884341

1608 -- Principality of Arches-Charleville (Duchy of Nevers and Rethel?), 2 liards:

Groschen, Poland, 1607