Beleg van Gulik door Albrecht, aartshertog van Oostenrijk, noodmunt van vier stuiver, vervaardigd uit munt, bestempeld met het monogram van Frederik Pithaen Possibly 1621 - 1629

This silver coin, a four-stuiver emergency currency, bears the monogram of Frederik Pithaen and marks the siege of Gulik by Archduke Albrecht of Austria. Notice the crude form, born of necessity. The monogram, a symbolic representation of authority, echoes ancient heraldry, where emblems served as potent visual markers of lineage and power. Consider the labarum of Constantine, its Chi-Rho symbol transforming the battlefield into a theater of divine mandate. The monogram resurfaces through centuries, stamped on coinage, royal decrees, and merchant guilds. Each iteration adapts to its time, a testament to the enduring human need to mark, claim, and assert. The coin’s brutal simplicity is a raw mirror reflecting the desperation of the besieged. Like a potent dream symbol, it brings subconscious fears into stark relief. This small token is heavy with the weight of history, an emblem of survival forged in crisis, continuously evolving through time.