REPUBLIC OF THE SEVEN UNITED NETHERLANDS. Utrecht. 1651-(shield) Leeuwendaalder.

REPUBLIC OF THE SEVEN UNITED NETHERLANDS. Utrecht. 1651-(shield) Leeuwendaalder. Royal Dutch Mint. Delmonte-845, Davenport-4863, KM-30. Solid Inner Circle. AU-55 (PCGS). Well above average for this very common colonial era type, yet one that is notoriously challenging to find "nice." Markedly unlike the typical hoard coin with conserved surfaces, poor strike quality, and/or significant planchet problems, this one excels in all categories. The flan is near-fully round, free of flaws, with only shallow clips at 1, 4 and 7 o'clock relative to the obverse. The strike is outstanding, trivially soft in only a few peripheral areas and at the lion's trailing leg, with most features razor sharp to full and the overall design appreciable to an extant rarely allowed by examples of this type. Lustrous and frosty with delicate retoning in natural iridescent golden-gray, the surfaces are smooth in the absence of detracting marks. For the advanced collector of colonial American circulating coinage, this piece would be difficult to improve upon and, indeed, is far more appealing that the typical AU or even Mint State leeuwendaalder seen in today's market. This iconic type served alongside cob 8 reales and French écus as the principle crowns in colonial North American circulation until the introduction of milled 8 reales coinage at the Spanish colonial mints beginning in 1732. John Kleeberg (2013) reports that the source for leeuwendaalders in the English colonies was the little-known Madagascar trade between America and East Africa during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Once introduced in American commerce, these coins circulated in all of the English colonies except for New England from about 1693 to 1733. The abandonment of the Madagascar trade as unprofitable also contributed to the eclipse of leeuwendaalders in colonial American circulation. Provenance: From the Emerald Coast Collection. PCGS# 145939. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA.

Estimate:$1

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