Austrian Netherlands 1754(h) 1/2 souverain d'or Fr-135
This specimen was lot 658 in Jean Elsen sale 158 (Brussels, March 2024), where it sold for €1,050 (about US$1,365 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRABANT, Duché, Marie-Thérèse (1740-1780), AV souverain, 1754, Anvers. Deuxième type. D/ B. couronné à d. R/ Ecu ovale d'Autriche-Bourgogne, couronné, sur une croix de Bourgogne. Très Beau. (duchy of Brabant, Maria Theresia, 1740-80, gold souverain of 1754, Antwerp mint, second type. Obverse: crowned bust right; reverse: crowned oval arms of Austria and Burgundy over a Burgundian cross. Very Fine.)"
The souverain denomination was a holdover from Spanish rule in the seventeenth century and was struck until the collapse of the ancien regime. This style was struck 1751-57, 1764-65 at Antwerp and Bruges. The Austrians lost Belgium to Revolutionary France in 1797.
Reported Mintage: 174,000.
Specification: 5.53 g, 0.919 fine gold, .163 troy oz AGW, 22 mm diameter; this specimen 5,53 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-135, KM 17, W. 1115; Delm-212; VH 810.
- Delmonte, A., Le Bénélux D'or, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman N.V., 1964, with supplements to 1977.
- 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 158, Monnaies de la Principauté de Liège, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2024.
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