Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;goldducat, post: 2316988, member: 37873&quot;]The second coin, the Utrecht 1684 is special because of the countermark &quot;B&quot;, means Batavia.</p><p><br /></p><p>Batavia (Jakarta today) was a main city of the Dutch East India Company, known as the VOC from its Dutch name. Because the Netherlands gold ducats were trade coins, invented to pay in international trade, a large number of them was transferred to Batavia on ships. The fleet was coming back to Europe with precious spices, pepper, silk, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the coin, the value of the Netherlands gold ducats in the VOC was higher than their value in the Netherlands. To protect coins from being smuggled on ships by the crew, in August 1686 the VOC ordered that 20,000 Dutch gold ducats deposited in</p><p>the VOC Treasury be marked with the &quot;B&quot; mark for Batavia. In 1700 another 49,495 ducats were marked with the “B” countermark. However because the countermarked ducats were falsified they did not succeed as the VOC expected.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gold ducats with the &quot;B&quot; countermark are very rare and sold for high prices. The example sold recently in CNG auction was sold previously in Spink-Taisei auction 19, on February 23, 1995 (R.J. Ford Collection) for $8,970.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/10102580.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in