Filips IV, koning van Spanje, bereid om of de oorlog tegen Frankrijk voort te zetten, of vrede te sluiten 1655

This bronze coin, now in the Rijksmuseum, was struck anonymously in 1655, and shows us Filips IV, King of Spain. We can observe the material qualities of bronze: its relative softness, allowing for detailed impressions; its color, which evokes both antiquity and value; and its susceptibility to corrosion over time. To make this coin, an engraver would have used specialized tools to create a negative image on a steel die. This die would then have been used to strike the bronze blank, imprinting the design. Such coins were not just currency; they were also instruments of propaganda. Consider the iconography here: the portrait of King Philip IV on one side, and the imagery of war and peace on the other. The decision to cast these images in a relatively base metal like bronze speaks to its function as a widely distributed object, meant to circulate not just as money, but also as a message.