Rare Netherlands 1666 Overijssel Ducaton Silver Rider'De Liefde' Shipwreck 1711

  

A 1666 Overijssel Ducaton silver rider is a scarce key date especially in the case of a shipwreck sinking on 11/7/1711 (a palindromic date). The high-resolution photographs provided show the exact coin you will receive. Weight of this coin is 29.86 grams, consistent with the original minus the shipwreck effect.

In the pictures you see the 1666 coin together with a photocopy of the 1969 Glendining & Co. De Liefde ("The Love"), a 160-foot trading vessel, departed Amsterdam on her final voyage in 1711. Her destination was Batavia and Ceylon, and her cargo hold was packed with an estimated 3.7 million guilders in silver and gold to fund the trade.

Due to the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession, the English Channel was deemed too dangerous, forcing De Liefde to take the northern route around Scotland. On the night of November 7, 1711, a fierce gale and heavy swells pushed De Liefde onto the jagged rocks of the Out Skerries in the Shetland Islands. The next morning, locals looking out from the drying grounds saw a lone man wandering the hills. He was the only survivor of the 250+ men on board. The VOC's early salvage attempts were disastrous.

Another attempt with an early diving bell also failed. The treasure sat totally undisturbed in freezing, boulder-strewn waters for over two and a half centuries. It wasn't until 1965 that an expedition successfully located the wreck. Divers had to endure 50°F (10°C) water, working in grueling 45-minute shifts to bring the silver to the surface.

The recovered hoard consisted overwhelmingly of Ducatons (also known as "Silver Rijders" due to the striking mounted warrior on the obverse). The Ducaton was the premier coin for the East India trade at the time. According to the catalog, these coins are a fascinating economic time capsule.

Their 250 years on the ocean floor gave them a distinctive, dark grey patina. As the auctioneers noted in 1969, this sea-salvage patina serves as a permanent and distinctive certificate of origin from the wreck of De Liefde.