1697, Netherlands, Zeeland Province. Silver Knight Ducat Coin.
Mint Year: 1697
Denomination: Silver Knight Ducat
Province: Zeeland (mint mark: castle)
Reference: Davenport 4914, KM-52.1.
Weight: 26.88gm
Diameter: 40mm
Material: Silver
Obverse: Armored knight standing right, shouldering sword and holding crowned shield with arms of the Zeeland Province below. Legend: (privy mark castle) . MON . NO . ARG . PRO . COM . ZEL .
Reverse: Three rosettes above crowned shield of the Netherlands (crowned rampart lion welding sword and holding thunderbolts), splitting date (16-97). Legend: CONCORDIA . RES . PARVAE . CRESCUNT "Through concord little things grow (Union is strength!)"
Zeeland was a contested area between the counts of Holland and Flanders until 1299, when the count of Holland gained control of the countship of Zeeland. Since then, Zeeland followed the fate of Holland. In 1432 it became part of the Low Countries possessions of Philip the Good of Burgundy, the later Seventeen Provinces. Through marriage, the Seventeen Provinces became property of the Habsburgs in 1477. In the Eighty Years' War, Zeeland was on the side of the Union of Utrecht, and became one of the United Provinces. The area now called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen was not part of Zeeland, but a part of the countship of Flanders (still under Habsburg) that was conquered by the United Provinces, hence called Staats-Vlaanderen (see: Generality Lands). After the French occupation (see département Bouches-de-l’Escaut) and the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, the present province Zeeland was formed.