Flanders 1700 souverain d'or Fr-234
This specimen was lot 850 in Jean Elsen sale 161 (Brussels, March 2025), where it sold for €4,200 (about US$5,469 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"VLAANDEREN, Graafschap, Karel II (1665-1700), AV souverein (gouden leeuw), 1700, Brugge. 2e type. Met de muntpers geslagen. Vz/ Leeuw l. met zwaard en wereldbol. Kz/ Gekroond wapenschild omringd door de keten van het Gulden Vlies. Uiterst zeldzaam. Met muntmeesterteken hartje op vz. en justeringsporen op kz. (county of Flanders, Charles II, 1665-1700, gold souverain of 1700, Bruges mint, second type, struck in a press. Obverse: crowned lion left, brandishing a sword, one paw atop a globe; reverse: crowned arms, order of the Golden Fleece around. Extremely rare, adjustment marks on the reverse, Very Fine.)"
This rare type was struck at Antwerp (hand mintmark) 1666 and 1694 and at Brussels (angel face mintmark) 1666-67, 1676, 1681 and 1684, and at Bruges in 1700. The coin press was late in arriving in the Spanish Netherlands but was finally adopted in the 1680's.
Recorded mintage: 1,938.
Specification: 5.54 g, 0.919 fine gold, 25 mm diameter, this specimen is 5,60 g.
Catalog reference: KM 103, Fr-234, G.H. 345-4b; Hoc, RBN 80 (1928), 13; Delm. 566; VH 708.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- 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.
- van Gelder, H. Enno, and Marcel Hoc, Les Monnaies des pays-Bas Bourguignons et Espagnols, 1434-1713, Amsterdam, J. Schulman, 1960, with supplement of 1964.
- [1]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 161, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2025.
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