Danish East Indies 1671-GK 2 speciedaler

Stack's Bowers sale of the L. E. Bruun Collection, lot 1100

This specimen was lot 1100 in Stack's Bowers sale of the L. E. Bruun Collection (Copenhagen, September 2024), where it sold for €204,000 (about US$226,073 including buyer's fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"Choice Mint State 2 Speciedaler Produced for the Danish East India Company, DENMARK. Danish East India Company. 2 Speciedaler, 1671. Copenhagen Mint. Christian V. NGC MS-63. Mintmaster: Gotfred Krüger (GK). Engraver: Jeremias Hercules. An EXCESSIVELY RARE trade coin for The Danish East India Company (DOC - Dansk Ostindisk Compagni). This tremendous numismatic offering combines beauty with desirability in one exquisite package. Technically the surfaces are beautiful, with this rich Choice Mint example being the sole example seen by either NGC or PCGS. Alluring and appealing luster glows and glitters, with soft color throughout that gives a handsome variegated hue. The fine details are both well-engraved and struck to a precise degree, with nothing wanting for details. An example that should be most desirable, given its connection to the Danish East Indies Company, this 2 Speciedaler is among the more elusive examples of trade coinage, and it is a beautiful one at that.
The Danish East India Company (Dansk Ostindisk Compagni) was created on the initiative of Christian IV as the first Danish shareholding company. The king was the largest shareholder, but among the investors were nobility and citizens in Denmark, Norway and the duchies. The intention with the establishment of the company was to gain a share in the trade in spices, silk and cotton on a par with Holland and England, and the company was given a monopoly on trade with Asia by sea. In 1618 the first expedition was sent, and as a result of this expedition the trading station of Tranquebar was established on the Coromandel coast in south-east India. In the first years the financial yield was, however, modest and the company was dissolved in 1650. It was not until 1668 that a ship was again sent from Denmark-Norway to Asia, and in 1670 a new East India Company was established. As the trading goods were predominantly paid for in silver, the newly started company funded the present mintage, which they had obtained the privilege to mint at the Royal Mint in Copenhagen. At the end of the 17th century, trade experienced better business conditions and it was possible to send out an average of two ships per year."

The king struck several other speciedalers for the Danish East India Company (KM 317, 318, 319, KM 362, 363), all so rare as to be essentially patterns. We don't know if any actually made it to Asia.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 57.78 g, 0.875 fine silver, 41.3 mm diameter, this specimen 57.99 g.

Catalog reference: KM-319; Dav-408; Hede-64; Sieg-61; Schou-4; Bruun-6757.

Source:

Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
Siegs Møntcatalog 2016: Danmark med Omrader, 48 ed., Frederikssund, Siegs Forlag ApS, 2015.
^[1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio, Jeremy Bostwick and Henrik Holt Christensen, The L. E. Bruun Collection - A Corpus of Scandinavian Monetary History Part I, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.

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Danish East Indies 1671-GK 2 speciedaler

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