ADVENT COINS: STARS AND TAXES

Stars and taxes

Last week we heard about the holy couple going to Bethlehem. Some of the baby's visitors were guided there by a star and this week I am looking at a jeton which features a very pleasant image of a star although it is shaped more like a comet. There were naked eye comets in 1558 and a very short Korean record of a comet in 1567 but nothing in 1562.  The designer of this jeton may have remembered seeing one in the sky or believed the star over Bethlehem was more likely to be a comet.

It was struck in the name of King Philip II of Spain, the Hapsburg ruler of the Netherlands and is dated 1562. It bears the name of the Bureau of Finance or the tax office. The reverse has a scene with the three wise men offering gifts to the baby Jesus. The inscription is, Monstrant Regibus Astra Viam which means "The stars show the way to kings"

I wonder why a tax office would produce a jeton or counter that had a religious design. Perhaps they wanted to do something different or appeal to a higher power.

The 1560s was a time of growing disquiet in Flanders at the Hapsburg rule and religious dispute which led to open revolt in a few years' time. Perhaps the authorities wanted to emphasise the importance being a good citizen which includes paying the taxes. Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census decreed by the Roman emperor – probably so there would be more taxes.

Images used by kind permission of
http://users.telenet.be/Astronomy_Coins_Medals/comets.htm

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ADVENT COINS: A GAME OF THRONES (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n48a25.html)
ADVENT COINS: JOHN THE BAPTIST (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n49a28.html)
ADVENT COINS: ON THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n50a26.html)

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