Dutch Ducat Pendant

Description:

This gold ducat coin was minted in 1752 in the Dutch city of Utrecht, located in the central Netherlands. Utrecht has historically been one of the most important cities in the Netherlands and in 1579, the Union of Utrecht was signed in the city to lay the foundations for the Dutch Republic.
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 Latin legend translates to "Through concord little things grow (union is strength) – Utrecht mint.” The reverse, within the ornamental square, shows the legend translated to "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 16th 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 nation flourished culturally and economically in its golden age.