File:Brabant 1641 2 souverain dor obv G80-3653.jpg

This specimen was lot 3653 in Goldberg sale 80 (Los Angeles, June 2014), where it sold for $__. The catalog description^[1] noted, "Belgium - Brabant. 2 Souverain d'or, 1641 (Brussels). Fr-104. Philip IV (1621-1665). Obverse crowned armoured bust. Reverse crowned shield in collar of the Golden Fleece. Lots of original luster and as struck. This coin was found in the earth in Europe, having lain undisturbed for several centuries. Usual somewhat weakly struck reverse, but an unusually crisp portrait. NGC graded MS-63. Philip IV of Spain was born in 1605 and reigned as King of Spain and its empire until 1665. He married Elisabeth of France when he was 10 years old and she 13. Eventually they had 7 children. She died in 1644 and he later married Mariana of Austria who bore him 5 children. Philip was a studious man who took the business of ruling a vast empire seriously. At first he had a reforming zeal, but later this left him. It was said that Philip was so impassive in public that he 'resembled a statue,' and one observer remarked that he 'had laughed only 3 times in his life.' But he was a patron of the arts and artists (especially Diego Velazquez) and a religious man deeply concerned with the preservation of Spain's dominions. Eventually, the strains of The Thirty Years War weighed heavily on him, and historians disagree strongly over his strengths and weaknesses."