Austrian Netherlands 1753(l) 1/2 souverain d'or Fr-237
This specimen was lot 1294 in Jean Elsen sale 163 (Brussels, November 2025), where it sold for €2,200 (about US$2,541 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"VLAANDEREN, Graafschap, Maria Theresia (1740-1780), AV souverein, 1753, Brugge. Vz/ Gekroond bb. r. Kz/ Gekroond wapenschild op een Bourgondisch kruis. Zeldzaam. (county of Flanders, Maria Theresia, 1740-80, gold souverain of 1753, Bruges mint. Obverse: crowned bust right; reverse: crowned arms over a Burgundian cross. Rare, about Extremely Fine.)"
This type was struck in 1752-54 at Antwerp (hand mintmark) and Bruges (lion mintmark, shown here) during the reign of Maria Theresia. The souverain denomination was a holdover from Spanish rule in the seventeenth century and marks a resumption of coinage for the Austrian Netherlands, which had lapsed about 1706. The Austrians lost Belgium to Revolutionary France in 1797. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, Belgium passed to the king of the Netherlands.
Recorded mintage: 22,000.
Specification: 5.53 g, 0.919 fine gold, .163 troy oz AGW, this specimen 5,56 g.
Catalog reference: KM 17, VH 810; Delm. 571, Fr-237.
- Delmonte, A., Le Bénélux D'or, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman N.V., 1964, with supplements to 1977.
- Herinek, Gerhard, Austria Münzkatalog: Munzen ab 1745 und Banknoten ab 1759, 49. Auflage, Vienna: Christine Steyrer Verlag, 2022.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 163, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2025.
Link to:
- 1752 demi-souverain d'or, Antwerp mint
- 1752 demi-souverain d'or, Bruges mint
- 1753 escalin, Antwerp mint
- 1753 double escalin, Antwerp mint
- 1753 kwart dukaton, Bruges mint
- 1753 demi-ducaton, Antwerp mint
- 1753 demi-ducaton, Bruges mint
- 1753 ducaton, Antwerp mint
- 1753 demi-souverain d'or, Antwerp mint
- 1754 demi-souverain d'or, Antwerp mint
- Coins and currency dated 1753