I have just finished reading the book: Amsterdam in 1597, by Gabri van Tussenbroek. Van Tussenbroek is a historian who works for the city of Amsterdam and this book described all the months of this important year. It's the year that the first boats came back from the Indies. But it is also the year that the survivors returned from their voyage with Willem Barentsz around the North Side. The book is written from the perspective of book publisher Cornelisz Claesz and succeeds in giving the reader a sense of what living in Amsterdam must have been like. I can really advise anyone to buy, read and enjoy it !
The book also outlines that Claesz published a book (in 1586) with descriptions of the coins in circulation and use in Amsterdam around that time. Because money circulated in all forms and varieties, with one guilder of 1597 being the equivalent of about 13 euro today:
1 pond Vlaams = 6 gulden
1 gouden dukaat = 5 gulden, 5 stuivers
1 pond = 4 dukaat
1 pond = 20 schellingen
1 carolusgulden = geen mrekenmunt maar echte gulden
1 gulden = 20 stuivers
1 daalder = 30 stuivers
1 rijksdaalder = 50 stuivers
1 stuiver = 4 oortjes = 8 duiten = 16 penningen
Eventually, the variety of coins in circulation (of all kinds of countries) created a lot of confusion and merchants had to be very keen on checking the coins, weight etc in order not to be tricked by money traders. As a result, the city council decided to set up the 'Wisselbank', a girobank for merchants. This was done after the example in Venice, Italy. Any payment over 600 guilders had to be effected via the bank. Also the bank would exchange money and take any coin for deposit but only issue proper guilders when paying out (thus cleaning up the coins in circulation).
