A DUTCH DUCAT FROM THE SHIPWRECK VLIEGENTHART

Obverse: A knight holding a bundle of arrows, which symbolizes the collaboration of the provinces of the new Republic.
Reverse: The legend MO ORD PROVIN FOEDER BELGAD LEG IMP which roughly translates into "coin of the provinces of the United Netherlands according to the law of the empire of the Low Countries".

The seven northern provinces of the Netherlands (including Zeeland, West Friesland, Friesland, Gelderland, Holland, Utrecht and Overijssel) declared their independence from Spanish domination in 1581 becoming the Republic of the Netherlands.

In the following century, the "Golden Age" of Dutch history, the Netherlands became a great sea and colonial power, a patron of the arts and a refuge for the persecuted.

Machine made by a screw press on planchets cut by hand, these gold ducats are an example of the high level of sophistication achieved by the Dutch Republic. They were circulated widely in Europe as well as being used for trade in the Orient.

On February 3, 1735, the Vliegenthart sank due to pilot error just hours after it departed the Netherlands port of Rammekens. Laden with goods being shipped to the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia) by the Dutch East India Company, its salvage in1992 yielded chests of gold and silver coins as well as an abundance of historically important marine archeological information.

The Ducat accompanying this document is one of over two thousand recovered from the ocean floor by modern salvors.