Netherlands – Dutch Republic – Silver Ducaton / Zilveren Rijder, 1733–1734 – VOC Vliegenthart Shipwreck – Sunk 1735 – NGC Shipwreck Certification – Genuine An exceptional historical artifact from one of the most famous Dutch East India Company shipwrecks: an original 18th-century Dutch silver ducaton, also known as a Zilveren Rijder or “Silver Rider,” recovered from the wreck of the VOC ship Vliegenthart, which sank in 1735 during its voyage from the Dutch Republic to Batavia. The coin has been authenticated and encapsulated by NGC under its dedicated Shipwreck Certification program. The NGC label identifies the piece as: (1733–34) NETHERLAND 1 DUC GENUINE Vliegenthart NGC Shipwreck Certification Certification number: 8293604-173 This is not simply an old Dutch coin. It is a genuine archaeological shipwreck artifact directly associated with the global trading system of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, better known as the VOC or Dutch East India Company. The Dutch silver ducaton was one of the great large-denomination silver coins of the 17th and 18th centuries. These impressive coins were generally struck at approximately 32–33 grams and around 42–43 mm in diameter, making them considerably larger and heavier than most ordinary circulating silver coins of the period. The type is widely known among collectors as the Zilveren Rijder, or Silver Rider, because the original design typically depicted an armored horseman riding across the obverse. The reverse normally carried the crowned provincial arms of the issuing authority. Due to approximately two and a half centuries in a marine environment, virtually all of the original design on this specimen has been lost to saltwater corrosion and mineralization. The heavily textured dark surfaces visible today are part of the coin's history and are characteristic of silver recovered after prolonged immersion in seawater. NGC has therefore authenticated the coin as GENUINE rather than assigning a conventional numerical grade. Most importantly, the holder provides documented Vliegenthart shipwreck provenance. THE VOC VLIEGENTHART The Vliegenthart, also encountered in historical sources under spellings such as Vliegend Hert, Vliegent Hart and Vliegenthart, was an East Indiaman belonging to the Zeeland Chamber of the Dutch East India Company. The VOC was one of the most powerful commercial organizations in world history. During the 17th and 18th centuries it operated an enormous maritime trading network connecting the Dutch Republic with southern Africa, India, Ceylon, Indonesia, Japan and other parts of Asia. VOC vessels transported European goods, precious metals and currency to Asia and returned with valuable commodities including spices, textiles, porcelain and other luxury goods. The Vliegenthart was constructed at Middelburg in Zeeland in 1729. It was a substantial ocean-going merchant vessel of approximately 44 metres in length and around 850 tons. On 3 February 1735, under the command of Captain Cornelis van der Horst, the Vliegenthart departed Zeeland bound for Batavia, modern-day Jakarta, then the administrative centre of the Dutch East Indies. The ship never reached the open ocean. During difficult weather and navigation conditions, the Vliegenthart struck a sandbank in the waters near the Scheldt estuary. Although the ship reportedly managed to free itself and reach deeper water, the grounding had caused catastrophic damage to the hull. The vessel subsequently sank. All approximately 256 people aboard were lost. Another VOC vessel travelling in the same area, the Anna Catharina, was also wrecked that day. The Vliegenthart therefore represents one of the most dramatic maritime disasters associated with the Dutch East India Company. THE TREASURE CARGO The historical importance of the wreck increased enormously because the Vliegenthart carried a substantial quantity of specie intended for trade in Asia. European trading companies required huge amounts of gold and silver because European manufactured goods alone could not always be exchanged efficiently for Asian commodities. Precious-metal coins therefore formed a critical part of the financial infrastructure of the VOC. The Vliegenthart reportedly carried thousands of valuable coins, including Dutch gold ducats, Spanish and Spanish-American silver coins and Dutch provincial silver currency. Recovery accounts associated with the wreck mention approximately 2,000 Dutch gold ducats and around 5,000 silver reales among the recovered monetary cargo, alongside Dutch silver coins and numerous other archaeological objects. The wreck therefore represents a remarkable archaeological snapshot of the international monetary system used by the VOC during the early 18th century. Dutch coins, Spanish colonial silver and gold currency were all transported eastward to finance trade throughout the VOC empire. THE SILVER DUCATONS AND “SMOKKELGELD” One particularly fascinating aspect of the Vliegenthart treasure concerns the Dutch silver ducatons found aboard. Research into the wreck has distinguished between official company money, known as compagniesgeld, and private or undeclared currency sometimes described as smokkelgeld. VOC employees, sailors and other individuals sometimes attempted to transport personal money to Asia, where European silver could potentially be exchanged or invested advantageously. Dutch silver ducatons discovered aboard the Vliegenthart have therefore attracted considerable attention from numismatists studying the difference between official VOC currency shipments and privately transported money. This makes a Vliegenthart silver ducaton especially interesting because it potentially represents not only Dutch monetary history but also the informal economic activity that existed alongside the official VOC trading system. THE SHIPWRECK AND REDISCOVERY After the disaster of February 1735, the wreck disappeared beneath the waters and shifting sediments of the North Sea. Although the Vliegenthart sank relatively close to the Dutch coast, the combination of dangerous currents, sandbanks, poor visibility and constantly shifting seabed conditions made the wreck difficult to relocate. For approximately two and a half centuries, the coins and artifacts remained beneath the sea. The wreck was finally rediscovered in 1981 following an extensive search. Subsequent salvage and archaeological work during the 1980s and early 1990s recovered thousands of artifacts from the site. These included coins, weapons, bottles, containers and other objects associated with daily life aboard an 18th-century VOC East Indiaman. Some of the monetary cargo was recovered from chests while other coins had become dispersed across the seabed after their containers deteriorated. The environment had an enormous effect on the silver coins. Saltwater, chloride contamination, sediment chemistry and prolonged contact with surrounding materials gradually attacked the surfaces. Silver-copper alloys can become porous and heavily mineralized after centuries underwater. Consequently, some recovered coins retained substantial portions of their original designs, while others, including this specimen, emerged as heavily corroded but historically unmistakable remnants of the original large silver pieces. The corrosion visible on this coin should therefore not be regarded in the same way as damage to an ordinary circulated coin. It represents approximately 250 years of direct contact with the seabed and forms an integral part of the object's shipwreck history. IMPORTANT CONDITION / SLAB DISCLAIMER Please note that the coin is loose inside the NGC slab and can move within the holder when the slab is handled or tilted. This can be seen as a consequence of the extremely irregular and heavily corroded shape of the shipwreck coin. The NGC holder itself provides the authentication and Vliegenthart shipwreck attribution, but prospective buyers should be aware before bidding that the coin is not held completely rigidly within the internal prongs. The photographs form an important part of the description and show the actual coin and slab being offered. NGC SHIPWRECK CERTIFICATION NGC has developed specialist certification for coins recovered from historically significant shipwrecks. Shipwreck coins often cannot be evaluated according to normal numismatic grading standards because prolonged exposure to seawater can dramatically alter the metal surfaces. Accordingly, severely affected pieces may be authenticated as Genuine rather than receiving a numerical grade. That is the case with this specimen. The designation is particularly important because the principal value of such an object lies not only in the underlying coin type but also in authenticated provenance. An ordinary heavily corroded silver disc would have very limited numismatic significance. An NGC-certified silver ducaton recovered from a documented VOC treasure wreck is something entirely different. It becomes a tangible artifact connected directly to Dutch maritime history, VOC commerce, early global trade, the Dutch Republic and one of the most famous East Indiaman shipwreck discoveries. THE COIN ITSELF The NGC label dates this specimen to approximately 1733–1734. Because the original surfaces have been almost completely removed by marine corrosion, an exact minting year and issuing province cannot be confirmed visually from the surviving coin. For this reason, the coin should not be attributed more specifically than the information provided by NGC. The Dutch Republic did not have a single centralized coinage in the modern sense. Different provinces issued their own versions of many major coin denominations, including the silver ducaton. Examples exist from provinces and issuing authorities including Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, West Friesland and others. Collectors should therefore note that no specific province is claimed for this specimen unless independently established. The NGC attribution should be considered authoritative for the purposes of this listing. A PIECE OF THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE AND VOC WORLD Objects such as this provide a direct physical connection with an extraordinary period of economic and maritime history. The VOC, founded in 1602, became a major force in international commerce and operated fleets of heavily armed merchant ships between Europe and Asia. By the early 18th century, this network connected Amsterdam, Zeeland and other Dutch ports with Cape Town, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Japan and many other important commercial centres. Silver and gold were essential to this system. The Vliegenthart's monetary cargo was intended to help finance that immense trading network. This coin was therefore not merely circulating money. It formed part of the monetary flow that connected European silver production, colonial Spanish-American bullion, Dutch finance and Asian commerce. Its journey ended abruptly on 3 February 1735. Instead of reaching Batavia, it remained beneath the sea for approximately 246 years before the wreck was rediscovered. That survival history gives the coin a significance that conventional grading cannot properly describe. Collectors of Dutch coins, VOC memorabilia, maritime artifacts, shipwreck treasure and world history are effectively acquiring an archaeological object as much as a numismatic one. The almost completely erased surfaces make the story particularly visible. This coin physically demonstrates what centuries beneath the sea can do to silver. Approximately three centuries after it was struck, and almost three centuries after the sinking of the Vliegenthart, the coin survives inside an NGC-certified holder carrying the name of the ship from which it was recovered. An unusual and highly evocative addition to a collection focused on: VOC coins Dutch East India Company Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie Vliegenthart shipwreck Vliegend Hert shipwreck Vliegent Hart VOC shipwreck treasure Dutch shipwreck coins NGC Shipwreck Certification NGC Genuine Silver Ducaton Dutch Ducaton Zilveren Rijder Silver Rider 1733 Netherlands coin 1734 Netherlands coin 18th-century Dutch coin Dutch Republic coinage VOC silver coin VOC treasure coin East Indiaman shipwreck Dutch maritime history shipwreck silver archaeological coin treasure wreck coin Batavia VOC Dutch colonial history Zeeland VOC Middelburg VOC historic silver coin European trade coin VOC artifact maritime archaeology 1735 shipwreck North Sea shipwreck Dutch treasure ship antique silver coin historic shipwreck artifact The combination of an early 18th-century Dutch silver ducaton, the dramatic loss of the Vliegenthart in 1735, approximately 250 years beneath the sea, subsequent recovery from the wreck site and professional NGC Shipwreck Certification makes this an exceptionally distinctive historical collectible. While considerably better-preserved Vliegenthart coins exist, heavily sea-worn examples such as this arguably display the shipwreck history in its most immediate form. The porous, dark and irregular surface is the result of centuries underwater and gives the object an appearance that is fundamentally different from an ordinary surviving Dutch ducaton. This is therefore best understood not primarily as a high-grade example of a Dutch Silver Rider, but as a genuine certified relic of an actual VOC shipwreck. An original Dutch silver coin struck around 1733–1734. Loaded aboard a VOC East Indiaman. Bound for Batavia. Lost with the Vliegenthart in 1735. Submerged for roughly two and a half centuries. Recovered from the North Sea. Authenticated by NGC. A genuine piece of VOC, Dutch maritime and shipwreck history.