|
Sale 46
|
|
press UP arrow key to increase the zoom ratio.
press DOWN arrow key to decrease the zoom ratio.
press RIGHT arrow key to increase the zoom window size.
press LEFT arrow key to decrease the zoom window size.
|
|
Lot 910
Netherlands East Indies. Ducaton, 1728 (Westfriesland). Dav-419; Delmonte-1064; Scholten-40a; KM-130.1. Plain edge. Knight riding left. Reverse: Crowned crest supported by lions over "VOC" monogram. This is the first year of issue of "VOC" ducatons. Toned. Rare. NGC graded EF-40.
Such coins as these were used for the payment of Asiatic herbs and spices, especially coffee for us Westerners, coffee is three hundred years old, but in the East it was widespread as a beverage, in every level of society, since earlier times. The first definite dates go back to 800 B.C.; but already Homer, and many Arabian legends, tell the story of a mysterious black and bitter beverage with powers of stimulation. And there is a strange story, dating from 1400, of a Yemeni shepherd who, having observed some goats cropping reddish berries from a bush, and subsequently becoming restless and excited, reported the incident to a monk. The latter boiled the berries, and then distilled a bitter beverage, rich in strength, and capable of dispersing sleep and weariness. However the discovery occurred, the fact remains that the coffee plant was born in Africa in an Ethiopian region (Kaffa). From there it spread to Yemen, Arabia and Egypt, where it developed enormously, and entered popular daily life.
By the late 1500's the first traders were selling coffee in Europe, thus introducing the new beverage into Western life and custom. Most of the coffee exported to European markets came from the ports of Alexandria and Smyrna. But the increasing needs of a growing market, improved botanical knowledge of the coffee plant, and high taxes imposed at the ports of shipment, led dealers and scientists to try transplanting coffee in other countries. The Dutch in their overseas colonies (Batavia and Java), the French in 1723 in Martinique, and later on in the Antilles, and then the English, Spanish and Portuguese, started to invade the tropical belts of Asia and America.
The Dutch become the first to transport and cultivate coffee commercially. Coffee was smuggled out of the Arab port of Mocha and transported to Ceylon and East Indies for cultivation
Coffee was introduced to Indonesia by the Dutch. Legend has it that the original coffee plant which was introduced into Java, in 1696, was one of the seven highjacked coffee plants from Arabia. Java became a major coffee producing area. However, both the port of Mocha in Yemen and the island of Java in Indonesia could not ship enough coffee to supply the growing coffee demand in Europe. It should be noted that these two ports' names are how coffee got the name Java and Mocha. Anyhow, the price got so high that only those Europeans rich enough to afford exotic luxuries could drink coffee.
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,200.
Ex Irving Goodman Collection.
|
| |
| Realized $2,530 |
|
