Dutch 6 Stuivers Pendant

Description:

This silver six stuivers coin was minted in the city of Hoorn in 1736. These handsome ship design coins were known as scheepjesschilling "ship shilling." The obverse side of this Dutch coin features a large sailing ship with the inscription DEUS FORTITUDO ET SPES NOSTRA "God Our Strength and Hope." The reverse depicts two lions in a crowned coat of arms with the 1736 date and the legend MO NO ORDIN WESTF "The Order of West Friesland."
During the 17th to 18th centuries, Hoorn was the largest town and the capital of the region of West Friesland. A prosperous port city, Hoorn was home to one of the six chambers of the VOC Dutch East India Company. With their skill in trade and seafaring, the city's fleet plied the seven seas and returned laden with precious commodities from the East Indies. Exotic spices such as pepper, nutmeg, cloves and mace were sold at vast profits.
Throughout this period, the Dutch Empire grew to become one of the world’s major seafaring and economic powers. The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company established outposts all over the world and these stuiver coins were used in the shipping trade. Dutch ships hunted whales in the Arctic Sea, traded spices in India and Indonesia and founded colonies in the New World. Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first capitalist country in the world. This new nation flourished culturally and economically in its golden age.