Grote

The Grote's most striking feature was its consistent weight of around 3.5 to 4 grams of fine silver, which made it a reliable standard for merchants haggling from Bruges to Amsterdam.

That dependability stemmed from its production in various Burgundian mints, where skilled die-cutters imprinted simple designs—often a crowned shield or a heraldic lion—on planchets hammered from local silver sources. We know these coins circulated widely, but exact mintage figures are murky; records from that era were as fleeting as a fair-weather alliance.

One oddity: some Grotes show signs of clipping, where users snipped edges for smaller change, turning a full coin into makeshift bits. As for myths, I've heard tales of them being cursed treasures, but that's just idle chatter from collectors who romanticize every dent. If you're handling one, note the patina—it's often a dull gray from centuries in the ground, not the stuff of legends.

Mintage details for specific years? Lost to time, likely in some archive fire or forgotten chest.