1734 SILVER DUCATON (60 STUIVER-SILVER RIDER) VLIEGENTHART SHIPWRECK TREASURE COIN
CHOICE EXTRA FINE CONDITION (SALVAGED)
KM # 90
OBV: ARMORED KNIGHT GALLOPING ON HORSEBACK RIGHT BRANDISHING SWORD IN RIGHT HAND; CROWNED SHIELD OF ARMS OF OVERYSSEL BELOW RIDER; STATE ARMS TO LEFT OF KNIGHT'S ARM IN LEGEND.
REV: LARGE CROWNED ARMS OF THE NETHERLANDS WITH CROWNED SUPPORTERS; DATE WITHIN CARTOUCHE BELOW.
CONTAINS 32.6 GRAMS OF .941 SILVER
41 MM IN DIAMETER
AMSTERDAM MINT
COINS COME IN ORIGINAL VLIEGENTHART PRESENTATION BOX
ON FEBRUARY 3, 1735, THE DUTCH EAST INDIAMAN 't VLIEGENT HART (THE FLYING HART), ALONG WITH HER SMALLER SISTER SHIP THE ANNA CATHERINA, LEFT THE FORTIFIED PORT OF RAMMEKENS IN THE SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS, BOUND FOR THE EAST INDIES. BOTH SHIPS WERE LADEN RICHLY WITH DUTCH GOLD AND SILVER DUTCH & SPANISH COLONIAL MEXICAN COINAGE AND OTHER GOODS TO TRADE FOR SILKS, SPICES AND GEMS.
THE PILOT BOAT, MERCURIUS, WAS ORDERED TO GUIDE THE SHIPS OUT OF ZEELAND, THROUGH THE TREACHEROUS AND SHIFTING SAND BANKS OF THE SCHELDE RIVER, AND STEER THEM INTO THE OPEN WATERS OF THE NORTH SEA AND THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. A GALE SPRANG UP FROM THE NORTHEAST, AND THE VICIOUS TIDES, COMBINED WITH PILOT ERROR, RAN FIRST THE ANNA CATHERINA AND THEN THE 't VLIEGENT HART ONTO THE UNFORGIVING SAND BANKS. THE CATHERINA WAS BROKEN APART ON A SAND FLAT BY THE STORM AND SURF, AND ALL 175 MEN ON BOARD WERE DROWNED IN THE ROUGH WATERS. 'tVLIEGENT HART, BADLY DAMAGED BY HOLES IN HER HULL, SLIPPED OFF THE SAND BAR. SHE FIRED HER CANNONS IN DISTRESS, BUT TO NO AVAIL, AND THE SHIP QUICKLY SANK 10 FATHOMS INTO THE BRINY DEEP. 461 CREWMEN, SOLDIERS AND MERCHANTS PERISHED.
THE POWERFUL DUTCH UNITED EAST INDIA COMPANY (VOC) ATTEMPTED SALVAGE OPERATIONS, HIRING AN ENGLISH CAPTAIN AND DIVERS TO PLUMB THE DARK, COLD AND DEADLY WATERS. THE ATTEMPT WAS UNSUCCESSFUL, YIELDING BUT A FEW CANNON, 856 BOTTLES OF WINE AND ONLY FOUR SILVER DUCATOON COINS.
A SECRET MAP OF THE SITE, MADE BY THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY, MATERIALIZED IN 1977, AND IN LATE 1981, THE WRECK WAS FOUND BURIED IN MUD, ITS REMAINS COVERED IN FISHING NETS IN THE DARK AND DANGEROUS MURKY DEPTHS. A CHEST OF COINS WAS DISCOVERED INTACT IN 1983, WITH A SECOND SMASHED ACROSS THE SEABED, AND A THIRD WAS RECOVERED INTACT IN 1992.
THE SILVER RIDER (DUCATON OR DUCATOON) COINS THAT WERE FOUND, HAVE BEEN SPECULATED TO HAVE BEEN SMUGGLED ON BOARD BY A SENIOR OFFICER TO BE SOLD IN THE INDIES. THE COINS WERE PROHIBITED AT THAT TIME BY LAW FROM LEAVING THE NETHERLANDS, AND WERE NOT RECORDED IN ANY LOGS.
