Utrecht Gold Florin

The Utrecht Gold Florin was minted to the exact same weight and fineness as the Florentine Florin, which let it pass hands from Antwerp to Alexandria without a second glance.

That standardization came from Utrecht's bishops, who controlled the mint and aimed to rival Italian trade dominance. The coins featured a shield with the bishop's arms on one side and a cross on the other, struck on pure gold planchets. Over the two centuries of production, designs shifted slightly with each bishop's reign, though the core remained consistent.

We don't know the precise mintage numbers; medieval records were often lost or never kept. What survives are the coins themselves, dug up from shipwrecks or old hoards.

Some say these florins funded crusades, but that's mostly myth.