De tocht van admiraal van der Does naar de Canarische eilanden 1599

This silver coin commemorates Admiral van der Does's voyage to the Canary Islands. The process of minting such a coin involves skilled labor, from the initial design to the cutting of dies and the striking of the metal. The material itself, silver, carries cultural significance; it's a valuable metal and a marker of wealth and trade. The images stamped onto the coin are rich with social context. On one side, a ship sails the ocean, representing Dutch maritime power and ambition. The other side shows a landscape, perhaps alluding to the Canary Islands themselves, or more broadly to colonial expansion. Consider the number of coins like this that would have been produced, each one a small token of a vast economic and political system. Minting coins was a critical function of the state. Understanding these coins means appreciating the complex relationships between labor, materials, and power.