‘1700'S Treasure of the Dutch East Indies Company’
NETHERLAND EAST INDIES - DUIT - ITEM #VOCDUITFRI NETHERLAND EAST INDIES - DUIT - ITEM #VOCDUITHOL
WEST FRIESLAND - 1726-1793 AD HOLLAND - 1726-1793 AD
OBVERSE:
V.O.C. MONOGRAM
OBVERSE: V.O.C. MONOGRAM
REVERSE:
2 STACKED LIONS, FACING LFT IN CTR OF COAT REVERSE: LION FACING LEFT IN COAT OF ARMS
METAL:
COPPER
METAL: COPPER
SIZE:
21.5mm -22mm
SIZE:
21.5mm -22mm
NETHERLAND EAST INDIES - DUIT - ITEM #VOCDUITUTR NETHERLAND EAST INDIES - DUIT - ITEM #VOCDUITZEE
UTRICH -1726-1793 AD ZEELAND -1726-1793 AD
OBVERSE:
V.O.C. MONOGRAM
OBVERSE: V.O.C. MONOGRAM
REVERSE: 2 LIONS FACING HOLDING CREST OF ARMS REVERSE: LION LFT SWIMMING IN WATER IN CREST OF ARMS
METAL: COPPER
METAL: COPPER
SIZE: 21.5mm -22mm SIZE: 21.5mm -22mm
‘IMAGES ENLARGED TO SHOW DETAIL’
The United Dutch East India Company-Vereenigde
Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) was established in 1602 with the aim of sending
ships to Asia to buy pepper and spices. The VOC developed into a multinational
entity with branches in a dozen Asian countries. By the mid-18th century the
company employed 36,000 people. It built its own ships, some 1,500, which in
total made over 5,000 journeys to Asia, where a network of trading posts were
founded from the Persian Gulf to the China Sea. The company was granted
sovereign powers: it minted currency, occupied territories and maintained an armada
of warships and a small army, 10,000 strong, to defend its territories,
facilities and ships. It was the first company ever to sell stock shares, and
was arguably the most powerful enterprise of its kind in all of history.
However, emerging British domination of the sea eventually took its toll. By
1794, the VOC was bankrupt and its assets dissolved.
It took a Dutch ship three to six months to travel
from Holland to Batavia. Pirates, storms, treacherous waters and warfare took
their toll on these tall ships. More than 250 were lost during the two
centuries the VOC operated, scattering countless treasure to the bottom of the
shipping lanes from East Asia to northern Europe. This fact prompted curiosity
about the origins of the specific group of copper duit coins from which these
were selected. Where and when these
coins were found is in fact shrouded in mystery. The elderly merchant of
Ceylonese origin who supplied them claimed to have possessed this hoard in his
family for decades. Upon close inspection, the raw coins showed clear signs of
exposure to a marine environment. While we cannot know the actual origins, it
is speculated that these genuine coins spent time in the sea before they were
later recovered and expertly conserved. We may never know the stories these
coins could tell if they could speak.
To fulfill a shortage of
currency in its expanding territories, from 1726 to 1794, copper duits were
struck at provincial mints in The Netherlands. Coins showing the VOC monogram and
the coats of arms of Holland, West Friesland, Zeeland and Utrecht were minted
for circulation in The Dutch East Indies, India, Ceylon and Malacca. This
collection of genuine VOC duits originated in these four mints.
ITEM #
VOC4DUITALB
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