Hollandse penning van Floris V, 1256-1296 1256 - 1258

Curator: This humble metal piece whispers of power from the High Middle Ages; it’s a Dutch penny of Floris V, minted somewhere between 1256 and 1258. Editor: It has the weary beauty of something touched by so many hands. So much history just etched onto this little round. But I confess it looks a bit sad, like a forgotten promise. Curator: Forgotten or perhaps transformed. The face of Floris, though worn, connects us to a time of knights and castles and shaping what would become Holland. Editor: Absolutely! Look at how deliberately vague the symbols seem. I detect, possibly, the rendering of a crown. This is the dawn of recognizable symbolic currency. That vertical scepter-like form seems so primal – a clear nod to authority. Curator: Coins were not just money; they were propaganda. Portable affirmations of power! To think about what the population at large considered “real” currency at this period versus the nobility...fascinating. Editor: That primal nature gets me. I feel how symbols slowly, deliberately, accumulate meaning over time. In the thirteenth century, to even see a likeness of one's ruler—that carried profound psychological weight. Curator: And everyone handled money! You can only imagine what ordinary peasants, tradespeople, knights—or even Floris himself—would make of our scrutiny now. Editor: Well, now I'm feeling melancholy over the human element; how everyone who touched it is long gone, leaving us holding the echo of their intentions and labor. Still… to touch the past is a little like immortality, wouldn't you say? Curator: A potent way of framing the experience! Perhaps that makes its journey here – into our gaze – a sort of homecoming. Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way... that actually changes everything. I suppose all old money, like all things that survive, eventually finds a way back.