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UTRECHT: Dutch Republic, AV ducat (3.47g), 1724. UNC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - Europe Start Price:425.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 600.00 USD
UTRECHT: Dutch Republic, AV ducat (3.47g), 1724. UNC
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UTRECHT: Dutch Republic, AV ducat (3.47g), 1724, KM-7.1, knight standing facing, holding sword and bundle of arrows // legend in five lines within ornate tablet, 1 light scratch in obverse field, Unc, ex Runde Treasure, from 1725 Akerendam Wreck. On 19 January 1725, the Akerendam, a ship of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) departed the Netherlands as part of a convoy bound for Batavia. Manned by a crew of 200 and carrying 19 chests of gold and silver on board, she sank in a snowstorm on 8 March 1725 near the cliffs of Runde Island on the Norwegian west coast. During the following months, five chests of coins were recovered from the wreck. The remainder remained undisturbed, until Swedish and Norwegian sports divers rediscovered the wreck site in 1972, when approximately 57,000 gold and silver coins were recovered. Of these, 6,600 gold coins were mostly the rare Dutch gold ducats, minted in Utrecht in 1724, which, prior to this recovery, were known only through a handful of specimens. Because of the location of the recovery, these coins are known as the 'Runde Treasure'. The Norwegian state's portion of the Runde treasure was divided between the University of Oslo's Coin Cabinet and Bergen Maritime Museum. In January 2011, some of the coins from the Maritime Museum were transported back to the island for an exhibition at Runde Miljøsenter. The divers' portion of of the treasure was auctioned in Switzerland in 1978.