Netherlands Gold Ducat

The 0.8mm thick and 20.8mm wide Netherlands gold ducat coin made its debut in 1586 following the deliberate intention by Holland to limit the mints and centralize coin minting and replace substitute ongoing minting across numerous cities. There was also need for guidance about the coins, images, weights, and values that were accepted since the various provinces produced their own and this could have been confusing for money changers and merchants.

The first Dutch gold ducat coin featured a knight holding a bow in his left hand and arrows in the right hand with the Shortened Latin inscription, “CONCORDIA RES PAR. CRES. GEL”, which would, in full, translate to, “Union makes small things grow”. The image of the knight separates the year at slightly above the knee height. However, the number of arrows that the knight is holding out ranged between 3 and 8. An Ordinance issued on 4th October 1586 for the minting of 70 gold ducats required that they weigh 3.515 (± 1.971 grams per mark) meaning that any coin weighing below 3.487 grams was to be melted down.

The Netherlands gold ducat is a 23.6-carat coin that should have a gold purity of 0.981. Copper or silver constituted the 0.14 alloy if it was minted in the post-provincial or pre-provincial periods respectively. The production of the original Ducat lasted until 1808 after which it was converted into a trading coin minted by the Utrecht-based Royal Dutch Mint. The collection and investment trading of the Netherlands gold ducat dates as far back as 1982 and its commercial exchanges normally do not attract VAT in selected territories like the UK.

The Netherlands gold ducat is minted in Utrecht by Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt (the Royal Dutch Mint). The Mint was founded in 1567 and received exclusive coin striking and issuance rights in 1807 under King Louis Napoleon’s rule. The Dutch State wholly owns the Mint, which was renamed to Rijks Munt after the collapse of Napoleon’s regime in 1813. It incorporated into a company in 1994 and awarded the prefix, “Royal” by the Queen in 1999.