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Posted 08/05/2015 03:43 am
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1576 leeuwendaalder / lion daalder from the Dutch province of Holland, Dordrecht mint. These were hand made and typically exhibit areas of weak detail. This example is notable for a better obverse strike, particularly with the Knight's face.
1576 leeuwendaalder / lion daalder from the Dutch province of Holland, Dordrecht mint. These were hand made and typically exhibit areas of weak detail. This example is notable for a better obverse strike, particularly with the Knight's face.
A very nice leeuwendaalder, especially considering it's a shipwreck coin!
The weak strike they tend to have is not so much the result of being handmade (pretty much all Dutch coins up to the 1750's were handmade), but because this was trade coinage. Leeuwendaalders didn't really circulate in the Netherlands itself, they were purely for business. So the only thing that matters was that the weight and silver content were approximately right, the looks didn't matter that much.
Having said that, they have been struck in such high numbers that they are pretty cheap to acquire, even with a nice strike. I have noticed though that on American auctions you often see very weak strikes (coins that I don't consider good enough to collect) with pretty high gradings, whereas on Dutch auctions you find them more often with nice strikes. When you get a coin like that slabbed, all that matters is the wear. You can have very little wear and a weak strike, and get a high grade. However in the Netherlands not many people collect coins in slabs, they seem to care more about a nice strike than wear. Result? Weak strikes without wear end up in slabs and go to the US, nice strikes with wear stay in the Netherlands. (My theory: I'm open for other explanations)
