1 Duit Dutch Republic (1581 - 1795) Copper

Netherlands, West Friesland. Dutch Copper Duit Coin.

Mint Year: 1780
Denomination: Duit
Reference: KM-125.
Province: West Friesland
State: Netherlands (United Provinces)
Material: Copper
Diameter: 21mm
Weight: 3.42gm

Obverse: Crowned shield with arms of West Friesland within wreath.

Reverse: Rosette, flanked by two dots above inscription in three lines and date (1780).
Legend: .*. WEST / FRI / SIA / 1780

The duit was a copper Dutch coin worth 2 penning, with 8 duit pieces equal to one stuiver and 160 duit pieces equal to one gulden. In Dutch Indonesia 4 duit pieces were equal to one stuiver. To prevent smuggling, the Dutch East India company ordered special coins with the VOC monogram on it. Only those pieces were valid in Indonesia. It was once used in the Americas while under Dutch rule.

The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (or “of the Seven United Provinces”) (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden/Provinciën; also Dutch Republic or United Provinces in short, Foederatae Belgii Provinciae or Belgica Foederata in Latin) was a European republic between 1581 and 1795, in about the same location as the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is the successor state.

Before 1581, the area of the Low Countries consisted of a number of duchies, counties, and independent bishoprics, some but not all of them part of the Holy Roman Empire. Today that area is divided between the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of France and Germany. The Low Countries in the 16th century roughly corresponded to the Seventeen Provinces covered by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Through marriage, war or sale, these states were acquired by the Habsburg emperor Charles V and his son, king Philip II of Spain. In 1568, the Netherlands, led by William I of Orange, revolted against Philip II because of high taxes, persecution of Protestants by the government, and Philip’s efforts to modernize and centralize the devolved medieval government structures of the provinces. This was the start of the Eighty Years' War.

In 1579, a number of the northern provinces of the Netherlands signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II.