Lot 1745
Netherlands. 10 Gulden, 1825-B (Brussels). Fr-329; KM-56. Weight 0.1947 ounce. William I. PCGS graded EF-45. In special PCGS Ship of Gold holder which contains One Pinch of Gold Dust recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure.
Special PCGS number 674239.45/35474703. Estimated Value $500 - UP
From 3 to 5 February 1825, a great storm in the North Sea created severe flood conditions along the coast of Germany and especially in the Netherlands, much of which are below sea-level and always at risk of flooding. In the Netherlands' northern provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Overijssel the violent storm surge of the North Sea overtopped the dykes, devastating the cities and towns that were normally protected by them. The February flood of 1825 was the worst natural disaster to hit the Netherlands over the course of the entire nineteenth century. Although the Netherlands received assistance from other countries in the repair and rebuilding efforts that followed, this great disaster had no impact on modifications to the old dyke system. It would take more than another century and the destruction inflicted by the 1953 flood for the Netherlands to authorize the Delta Works, a system to close the mouths of estuaries in an emergency.
While the Netherlands was rebuilding itself in the aftermath of the flood, it was also divesting itself of parts of its eastern colonial empire. In compliance with the 1824 Anglo-Dutch treaty that established distinct British and Dutch spheres of influence in South Asia and the East Indies, in 1825 the Netherlands transferred its possessions in India and its Malaysian colony of Malacca to British control. While this agreement permanently terminated the Dutch colonial empire in India and the Malay Peninsula, it gave the Netherlands a free hand to exploit the profitable islands of the Dutch East Indies without direct competition from Great Britain.
|
| |
| Realized $1,680 |
