1615 Certificate Authenticity First Silver Dollar Dutch Colonial Lion Dollar Zel

DUTCH COLONIAL LION DAALDER! 1615!
early American colonies where the daalder was
the first silver dollar

Colonial Lion Dollar / Dog Dollar,
Zeeland Mint Mark: Castle ♜

This shipwreck coin was recovered from the Dutch East Indiaman Merestein, which sank off the coast of southern Africa, in 1702.

The Merestein, a Dutch East Indiaman, the vessel was built at Amsterdam in 1693. The last time she left the Netherlands was on 4 October 1701, to meet her fate exactly six months later on the treacherous rocky shoals off Jutten Island, some 65 miles of Cape Town. On April 3, 1702, she hit reefs on the southwest point of Jutten Island and within hours was smashed to pieces. Only 99 of the 200 people aboard the Merestein survived. On board the Merestein were dozens of chests of silver coins for trade in the Far East, for which immediate salvage plans were undertaken. But Jutten Island is no easy dive, and all attempts were abandoned until modern times. The wreck was re-found and salvaged in the early 1970s, yielding almost exclusively Dutch silver Ducatoons from the 1600s. Ducatoon dollars, silver riders and Dutch shillings dating back to the late 16th century were found in great numbers. These coins were all hand-stamped and had obviously been withdrawn from circulation in Europe. They proved a delight to collectors, as they are works of art in themselves; some were of the highest rarity. Besides the silver coins, a few gold ducats were found, but not in great quantities.  The number of coins found in the 1970s was around 15,000 and is believed to be nowhere near all of the treasure that was lost.

This coin is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity!



Weight: 25.5 grams, Size: 39.5 mm, Material: Silver

Dutch Colonial Silver Lion Dollar, $24 bought Manhattan
This amazing Silver dollar coin was minted over 393 years ago and is similar to the ones used by the Dutch in the era when they bought the island of Manhattan (present-day New York City) for the equivalent of $24 in Dutch dollar coins. These were brought to the colonies by the Dutch when they settled in New Amsterdam , now New York. Because of that these are called New York pennies and dimes. This is an historical coin and it would make a great addition to your collection.

OBVERSE:

 

 

 

 An armored knight looking to right with plume in helmet. A shield bearing a lion in front of his legs. Within two circles of bead-work around the rim is a version of the legend, MO.NO. ARG. ORDIN. ZEL. ♜. This abbreviated Latin legend may be transcribed as: MONETA ARGENTEA PROVINCIARUM CONFOEDERATUM BELGICARUM ZEELAND which translates as "Coin Silver of the City of the Confederation Belgium - Zeeland".

REVERSE :

 

 

 

A Rampant lion facing left in center. Within two circles of bead-work around the rim is the year of issue 1633. followed by the lily Mint Mark on top and along periphery the Latin legend CONFIDENS.DNO.NON.MOVETVR expands to CONFIDENS DOMINO NON MOVETVR which translates as "Confidence in the Lord is not moved"


Colonial New York Lion Dollar (Dog Dollar) Zeeland Mint

The Leeuwen-daalder was minted to facilitate foreign trade in the 17th Century and is more commonly known as the Lion Dollar. Dutch merchants found it advantageous to pay a foreign debt in Leeuwen-daalders rather than in more costly Rijks-daalders.

The Leeuwen-daalder used in the early north-east American colonies was commonly known as the "Dog" or Lion Dollar. Minted in Holland to facilitate foreign trade in the 17th Century it was the origin of the silver Dollar.

This 17th century Leeuwen-daalder which is the same weight as a reals of eight was reckoned as 48 Stuivers and popularly known as Lion Dollars and in fact the origin of the name Dollar.

The Heraldric Lion was also on the Royal Standard of Sri Wickrema Raja Sinha depicting a yellow lion passant holding a sword in its right paw on a red background shown on right which was adopted with a few alterations as the National Flag of Lanka at Independence in 1948

There appear to be variations in the design of the lion between coins of six provinces and with period in the 17th century when they were minted. The Lion is similar that illustrated for West Friesland in Krause and Belmonte, which is different from some of the other Lion Daalders.
 

Lion Daalders were usually produced from thin planchets that did not fully fill the thickness of the dies, thus they were often weakly struck. This dollar is 3% under-weight but that could be easily accounted for by the probable light shaving of the edge often seen in coins of this age.

See discussion of a probably contemporary counterfeit coin from early American colonies where the daalder was the first silver dollar.

The Lion Dollar

The lion dollar (Leeuwendaalder) was produced in six of the seven provinces, in the region of West Frisia and in five of the cities with minting privileges as follows:

Lion Dollar Issues - Provinces

Frisia:   1589-1653, as well an an undated issue
Gelderland:   1589-1700/991
Holland:   1575-1697, as well as an undated issue
Overijssel:   1585-1701
Utrecht:   1589-16972
Zeeland:   1589-1658, as well as an undated issue3

Lion Dollar Issues - Regions

West Frisia:   1588-1713, as well as an undated issue

Lion Dollar Issues - Cities

Deventer:   1640-1698
Kampen:   1637-1693
Nijmegen:   1692
Zutphen:   1690-1692
Zwolle:   1633-1692

Notes:
1. Gelderland - The final issue is dated 1700 with 99 appearing under the 00.
2. Utrecht - There is also a 1579 dated dollar called a (Unie Daalder/Leeuwendaalder). This coin may be a precursor of the Leeuwendaalder as it has the same lion reverse but the obverese contains a crowned shield rather than a helmeted knight holding a shield. Also, the weight of this coin was slightly less than the Leeuwendaalder, 24.75g versus 27.68g; however the fineness, .750, is the same for both coins.
3. Zeeland - Interestingly, on the 1597-1598 Zeeland issues, as on many other Zeeland coins, the lower half of the lion is covered by ocean waves, because most of Zeeland was below sea level.

Several coins were produced in the Netherlands specifically to facilitate export trade. The most important of these coins was the lion dollar (the leeuwendaalder) which was first minted in the province of Holland in 1575 during their struggle for independence. Soon thereafter lion dollars were issued by six of the seven Dutch provinces, along with independent issues produced by some of the major cities.

The lion dollar was authorized to contain 427.16 grains of .750 fine silver and passed locally for between 36 to 42 stuivers. It was lighter than the large denomination coins then in circulation, namely the ducatoon (491 grains of .920 fine silver and passing at 3 guilders or 60 stuivers) and the rijksdaalder (448 grains of .885 fine silver passing at 2 1/2 guilders or 50 stuivers). Clearly it was more advantageous for a Dutch merchant to pay a foreign debt in lion dollars rather than in more costly rijksdaalders. Thus, the lion dollar became the coin of choice for foreign trade.

The obverse of the lion dollar depicts a standing knight, in front of his legs rests a shield bearing a lion in what is know as the rampant position. This lion is found on both the Dutch and Belgian coats of arms. Within two circles of beadwork around the rim is a version of the legend, MO · AR · CIVIIM · P · BELG · followed by a location such as WEST. This abbreviated Latin legend may be transcribed as: MONETA ARGENTEA CIVIIM CONFOEDERATUM BELGICARUM WEST FRISIAE (Silver money of the City of the Netherlands1 Confederation West Frisia). The reverse displays the same heraldic lion in a larger size, again there are two circles of beadwork around the rim with the motto of the United Provinces, CONFIDENS. DNO. NON. MOVETVR (Who trusts in the Lord is not moved) followed by the date. In the motto DNO is an abbreviation for DOMINO. Lion dollars were usually produced from thin planchets that did not fully fill the thickness of the dies, thus they were often weakly struck.

The lion dollar circulated throughout the Middle East and was imitated in several German and Italian cities. It was also popular in the Dutch East Indies as well as in the Dutch New Netherlands Colony (New York). The lion dollar also circulated throughout the English colonies during the Seventeenth and early Eighteenth centuries. Examples circulating in the colonies were usually fairly well worn so that the design was not fully distinguishable, thus they were sometimes referred to as "dog dollars." Larger Dutch silver coins as the ducatoon and the "rix" dollar (rijksdaalder) were also used in the colonies but neither of these coins had such a wide circulation or long lasting influence as the lion dollar.

In Maryland the lion dollar was mentioned as the most important circulating coin in documents of 1701 and 1708, with its value stated as 4s6d. It is reported by Felt (p. 250) that a deposition was taken in Boston on July 29, 1701 stating that "Dog or Lion dollars" had been counterfeited in Massachusetts. In 1708 the New York Assembly set the value of the lion dollar at 5s6d. Also, the New York paper currency emission of November 1, 1709 was issued as amounts of sterling silver expressed in denominations of 4, 8, 16 and 20 lion dollars, with 13.75 oz. of silver equal to 20 lion dollars. Mossman also states lion dollars were used in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. In April of 1998 a Mike Cato from Virginia sent me an e-mail that he had discovered a 1640 lion dollar while metal detecting. In the hoard collected from the H.M.S. Feversham, which sank on October 7, 1711 after leaving New York, there were 22 lion dollars (quantitatively third only to the 504 Spanish Colonial silver coins and the 126 specimens of Massachusetts silver). Also, two lion dollars were inventoried in the hoard discovered in Castine, Maine, thought to have been deposited there in 1704 by French colonists fleeing from the English. It should be recalled that most of the Castine hoard was dispersed before an inventory could be produced.

Lion dollars were no longer minted after 1713, during the Eighteenth century they were replaced in the Mideast by the Austrian thaler. In the English colonies New World Spanish silver had always held first place and with the advent of the famous milled silver coinage in 1732, the Spanish milled dollar absorbed the lion dollar's share of the market.

A deposition was taken in Boston on July 29, 1701 stating that "Dog or Lion dollars" had been counterfeited in Massachusetts. The Maryland Act of 1708 used the derisive term Dog Dollar in evaluating this coin. The image on this coin clearly looks more like a "dog".

       
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