Finally....1586 Gold Ducat from my home province (Gelderland, first year of issue)

Dennis88

Just won this at Heritage...and super excited about it. This is the first year of issue from my home province of the gold ducat, which continues to be struck to this day. This is an issue which is difficult to find although a few have come out of the woodwork recently and in the past few years I could have bought 3...but got outbid every single time or decided it was too much money for the grade.

While I believe it is certainly better than the Heritage grade (Fine details, porous) it's not the best example but for now I'm glad to have finally added this date to my collection at a very good price



Dennis

trozau

Congrats!

mdwoods

That's very cool. When did they first start striking them? Have they been struck continuously for all those years? Great pick up. Grats.

NiceCurrency

very cool

and the province basically translates to moneyland?

JCMhouston

Very nice pickup.

Dennis88

<< <i>That's very cool. When did they first start striking them? Have they been struck continuously for all those years? Great pick up. Grats. >>



Not continuously...but pretty much, using this design which soon became the standardized design in 1586. Up until the early 19th century they were struck at a number of different mints (up to 6 or so each year) pretty much every year. The gold ducat continued to be struck throughout the first half of the 19th century as trade coinage, but production slowed down in the late 19th and early 20th centuries up to the point where they were only struck if they were specifically requested by individuals or companies, who had to provide their own gold. This happened for the first time in 1960, when a company requested them and they struck 3,605 coins, which was the minimum mintage as a minimum of 10 kilograms of gold had to be supplied to the Mint. Starting in 1989 they have been struck each year for collectors.

Here's the obverse of this year's issue, of which the presale (on which total mintage was based) were just ended. Total mintage of just 1,010 coins:

lordmarcovan

Excellent. I believe I had a 1597 Gelderland ducat once.

SaorAlba

I used to have a bunch of them, especially 19th century. They are one of those small issue coins that were struck over a long period of time, even copied. Somewhere in my library I have a book about them that I was given by the mintmaster at the Utrecht Mint when I visited there years ago.

Zohar

Very nice!

worldcoinguy

Congrats on the new piece. The time pursuing it makes it all the more sweeter.

STONE

Definitely looks WAY better than Fine-details. More VF/EF, but what do I know about World coins

Andres

Gefeliciteerd Dennis, voor een gouden dukaat vind ik het best wel een mooi exemplaar.

Dutch motto in latin on the obverse : CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESC UNT = Unity makes strength - American motto: E PLURIBUS UNUM - French motto: L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE
the latin dutch motto was translated in dutch on early 19th Century ducats = Eendragt maakt Magt , still the motto on Brooklyn NY flag /seal
and the policeforce in Holland Michigan.

ajaan

The OP's coin is Fine details? No way! More like EF.

Swampboy

Congrats Dennis.
First year of issue and still lookin' good!