Leeuwendaalder (lion daalder)
1575– ・ silver ・ 16th century ・ Province of Holland (this piece dated 1589)
A large silver coin that the province of Holland began issuing in 1575, in the middle of the revolt. The face carries a knight holding a shield with a lion, the back a rampant lion; there is no royal portrait and no royal name. The weight is about 27.7 grams and the fineness about three quarters — lower than the rijksdaalder: silver for the costs of war. Because the fineness was low it was disliked at home, and for that very reason it went into payments abroad. The bad money set out on a journey. In the Ottoman Empire it was called the esedi guruş and became the settlement silver of the Levant trade, and the leu of Romania and Moldova and the lev of Bulgaria still take their names from this lion. As one of the circulating silver coins that crossed to North America, it also served as a link in the chain of names running from daalder to dollar. This piece is dated 1589.