Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Ducat - Willem I Countermark
| Issuer | Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1771 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Five lines of Latin inscription are presented within a decorative ornamented square cartouche, the border of which features elaborate scrollwork and foliate ornaments at the corners and midpoints. The text reads across five abbreviated lines attesting to the coin's status as legal tender of the federated Belgian provinces by imperial authority. The overall composition is characteristic of the Dutch gold ducat type struck continuously from the late sixteenth century onward. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The VOC applied countermarks to foreign gold ducats circulating in their Asian trading networks as a form of authentication — confirming the coin had passed through company hands and met acceptable fineness standards. By 1771, the VOC was already in serious financial decline, hemorrhaging capital through corruption, mismanagement, and the mounting costs of territorial administration in Java. The company would be dissolved entirely in 1799, its debts absorbed by the Batavian Republic.
The Willem I designation refers to the Dutch stadholder, though the undertype is the operative numismatic question here — the host coin's origin determines much of the piece's actual rarity and value.