Hollandse penning van Floris V, 1256-1296 1275 - 1284

Curator: This intriguing artifact is a Dutch silver coin, specifically a "penning" depicting Floris V, Count of Holland and Zeeland. It dates from around 1275 to 1284, so you're looking at something over 700 years old. Editor: Gosh, the past in your hand! I get this feeling...a shadowy portrait emerges from the depths of time. Small, yet potent. Curator: It really is a connection to a specific moment. Notice the craft. The creation of something so enduring from silver through practiced skill tells us volumes about Medieval economies and political power. The materiality shouts! Editor: Absolutely. Silver speaks volumes—intrinsic worth, portable power. And this tiny effigy trying to embody the whole authority of a Count. A little comical, perhaps? Though there's undeniable weight to the medieval aesthetic. The crude rendering adds something...haunting? Curator: Haunting and intentional. We’re meant to recognize Floris V here and to validate the system itself through repeated exposure. The circulation of such coinage reinforced not just monetary exchange but also socio-political authority. It wasn't about individual genius but about reliable reproduction and circulation within its sphere. Editor: Still, someone had to forge the die, choose the imagery... imagine them bent over their workbench! Did they think about Floris's rule or the people to whom this image was going out? Maybe even whispering a small wish, or a complaint, into the metal? Curator: Intriguing to imagine the quiet, invisible histories impressed into such items as they travelled through circulation networks across physical space, embodying complex ideas about rule, obligation, and belief. What a journey it has been for this "penning." Editor: Truly. I am in awe thinking about the people whose hands held it... their purchases, their hopes woven with this cold silver through all the silent passages of years. This small round embodies huge meanings, both mundane and majestic. Curator: Indeed. Looking at this coin shifts our own perspective through time and space, illuminating past social systems in the palm of your hand. Editor: Thank you; it feels rather moving in the end.