Penning met een wapen met daarop een leeuw 17th century

This small, anonymous token, printed on paper, gives us a fascinating glimpse into the history of money and value. The lion rampant, a symbol of courage and nobility, is printed within a shield surmounted by a crown. The surrounding text indicates that this token was “for the municipality.” The very material—paper—speaks to a shift away from precious metals toward more symbolic, easily reproduced forms of currency. This suggests a move towards a more complex, abstract economy, reflecting broader social and political transformations. It is quite different to minting metal coins. The relative ease of printing, compared to older forms of money, makes you wonder about the labor involved in its production, and the degree to which such tokens democratized access to currency, or, conversely, facilitated new forms of economic control. Considering the token’s materiality encourages us to rethink the relationship between money, power, and the making of things.