(售价 $235.0)

1802, Netherlands, Batavian Republic. Scarce Gold Knight Ducat Coin. 3.49gm!

Mint Year: 1801 State: Batavian Republic Denomination: Gold Knight Ducat Reference: Friedberg 319, KM-11.3. R! Condition: Minor deposits, a few edge-nicks and minor scratches, otherwise XF! Mint Place: Dordrecht    (this is one of four dates, which was also struck in secret by the Germans in 1812, according to recent studies!) Material: Pure Gold! Diameter: 22mm Weight: 3.49gm

Obverse: Knight standing right in armor, shouldering sword  and holding a bundle of arrows in left hand. Date (18-01) split in fields. Legend: CONCORDIA . RES PAR . CRESC . D . G . & . C . Z . Expanded: "CONCORDIA RES PARvae CREScunt..." Translated: "Through concord little things grow (Union is strength) "

Reverse: Legend in five lines inside ornate square. Fields around decorated with floral ornaments. Legend: MO : ORD : PROVIN : FOEDER . BELG AD LEG . IMP Expanded: "MOneta ORDinum PROVINciarum FOEDERatorum BELGicarum AD LEGem IMPerii" Translated: "Coin of government of the provincial federation of Belgium Conforming with the law of the Imperial."

Minted in Holland beginning in the 17th century to fuel its extraordinary tenure as the world's foremost commercial trader, the Netherlands one ducat gold coin offers both strong visual appeal and a scarcity value that could command a healthy premium in the years to come.     The first Netherlands trade ducat was issued in 1487 under Phillip the Fair and a coin very similar to the one depicted above has been minted more or less continuously from the early 1600s on. The net fine weight of 3.5 grams gold never changed to the modern era. The trade ducat is minted as a gold bullion coin even today. Only the Venetian ducat has enjoyed greater longevity.   The obverse of the famed ducat coin depicts a knight holding a bundle of arrows signifying the unity of the six northern provinces under the 1579 Union of Utrecht -- a declaration of independence from Spain. The motto Concordia Res Parvae Crescunt translates to "the union makes small things grow." The legend on the reverse translates to "money of the provinces of the United Netherlands according to the law of the empire."

The new Republic enjoyed widespread support from the Dutch population and was the product of a genuine popular revolution. Nevertheless, it clearly was founded with the armed support of the revolutionary French Republic. The Batavian Republic became a client state of first that "sister-republic," and later of the French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, and its politics was deeply influenced by the French who supported no less than three coups d'état to bring the different political factions to power that France favored at different moments in her own historical development. Nevertheless, the process of creating a written Dutch constitution was mainly driven by internal political factors, not by French influence. That is, until Napoleon forced the Dutch government to accept his brother as monarch.

Though the Batavian Republic was a client state, its successive governments tried their best to maintain a modicum of independence and to serve Dutch interests even where those clashed with those of their French overseers. This perceived obduracy led to the eventual demise of the Republic when the short-lived experiment with the (again authoritarian) regime of "Grand Pensionary" Schimmelpenninck produced insufficient docility in the eyes of Napoleon. The new king, Louis Napoleon, surprisingly did not slavishly follow French dictates either.

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