Austrian Netherlands 1774(a) 1/2 souverain d'or Fr-138
This specimen was lot 712 in Jean Elsen sale 158 (Brussels, March 2024), where it sold for €1,500 (about US$1,951 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRABANT, Duché, Marie-Thérèse (1740-1780), AV souverain, 1774, Bruxelles. Troisième type. D/ B. voilé à d. R/ Ecu ovale d'Autriche-Bourgogne, couronné, sur une croix de Bourgogne. Rare. Trace de monture au revers. Tache sur la tranche. Très Beau à Superbe. (duchy of Brabant, Maria Theresia, 1740-80, gold souverain of 1774, Brussels mint, third type. Obverse: veiled bust right; reverse: crowned oval arms of Austria-Burgundy over a Burgundian cross. Rare, trace of a mount mark on the reverse, a stain on the edge. Very Fine - Extremely 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 1770-77 at Brussels. To mark the death of Francis I in 1765, the empress's bust was modified to show her in a veil. The Austrians lost Belgium to Revolutionary France in 1797.
Reported Mintage: 37,000.
Specification: 5.53 g, 0.919 fine gold, 0.163 troy oz AGW; this specimen 5,55 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-138, KM 26, W. 1138; Delm-218; VH 812.
- 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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