1649, Netherlands, Holland. Beautiful & Rare Gold Ducat Coin. (3.49gm!) PCGS AU+

Mint Year: 1649
Region: Friesland (Netherlands)
Denomination: Gold Knight Ducat
Reference: Friedberg 249, KM-12.1.
State: Republic of the Seven Provinces
Condition: Certified and graded by PCGS as AU (Details: Scratch!)
Diameter: 22mm
Weight: 3.49gm
Material: Gold!

Obverse: Knight standing right in armour, holding sword which rests on shoulder and a bundle of arrows, splitting date (16-49).
Legend: CONCORDIA . RES . P AR . CRES . HOL (privy mark: *)
Translated: "Through unity little things grow (Union is strength), Holland"

Reverse: Legend in five lines inside ornate square. Fields around decorated with floral ornaments.
Legend: MO . ORDI PROVIN FOEDER BELG AD LEG . IMP
Expanded: "MOneta ORDinum PROVINciarum FOEDERatorum BELGicarum AD LEGem IMPerii"
Translated: "Coin of government of the provincial federation of Belgium Conforming with the law of the Imperial."

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.

 

The United Provinces first tried to choose their  own lord, and they asked the Duke of Anjou (sovereign from 1581-1583)  to rule them. Later, after the assassination of William of Orange (July 10, 1584),  both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer  of sovereignty. However, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces  into a protectorate of England (Treaty of Nonsuch, 1585), and sent the  Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was not a success, and in  1588 the provinces became a Republic.