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Description:

This gold ducat coin was minted in 1776 in the Dutch city of Dordrecht, located in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Dordrecht is the oldest city in Holland and has a rich history and culture as an important shipping port and merchant center.
This Dutch ducat bears the impression of a knight standing in armor with a sword in his right hand and a bundle of arrows in his left hand. The legend translates to "Through concord little things grow - Holland" (Union is strength). The reverse, within the ornamental square, shows the Latin legend translated as "Coin of government of the provincial federation of Belgium conforming with the law of the Imperial." The word ducat originates from the term "duke's coin" and with a very high purity of 98.6% gold, ducat coins were a valuable and trusted currency from the late Middle Ages through colonial times.
During the 17th to 18th centuries, 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 gold ducats 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.