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Sale 53
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Lot 2600
Great Britain. 5 Guineas, 1700. S-3454; Fr-309; KM-505.1. William III, 1694-1702. First laureate head right. Reverse: Crowned cruciform arms, with angled scepters and lion escutcheon at center, and divided date, lettered edge reads +DECVS.ET.TVTAMEN.ANNO.REGNI.DVODECIMO. Surfaces are somewhat prooflike and gleaming with luster. A lovely example with great eye appeal.
Historical note: Although he was known in his day as William of Orange, after the small principality he haled from near Avignon, France, William III was a cosmopolitan mixture of nationalities - of decidedly Dutch inclinations due to his House of Orange affiliations (his father was Wilhelm, Prince of Orange), but also of English stock as the nephew of Charles II. He was apparently bored by religion while a Calvinist in name, another irony inasmuch as the nearest town to where he grew up, Avignon, was once a Papal seat. He had first visited England in 1670, at which time he was granted two honorary university degrees. Although small of stature and frail looking, he seems to have had considerable stamina as well as courage: he survived an attack of smallpox in 1675 and in 1676 was wounded while fighting the French. He had met with his uncle, Charles II, on his visit two years earlier but had not been particularly welcome. Wishing to cement his English connections, he traveled again to England in 1677 and negotiated marriage to the eldest daughter of the Duke of York, later to become King James II, and thereby became his son-in-law. He and Mary did not have a happy union at first as they were unable to have children, but eventually their marriage became a deeply affectionate one. William's interests were hunting and the admiration of furniture and gardens, on which he spent fortunes. It was only his long hatred of the French which motivated him to accept the English throne offered to him by Parliament in February 1689 upon the removal of King James, the papist. William's aim was to protect Dutch interests, and he accepted the English offer on the condition that he was not to be just Mary's consort but that "the sole and full exercise of the regal power" would be his, not Mary's. He saw his role as that of frustrating the French king's desire for European domination, but he waged war against France with few victories. Mary's death in 1694 took a great toll on his health, and he just survived an assassination plot in 1696. By 1699 his popularity was seriously waning, to the extent that Parliament ordered his personal Dutch Blue Guards out of the country. After his horse stumbled on a mole hill at Hampton Court in February 1702, when he broke his collarbone, he contracted pneumonia and died within two weeks. His funeral was conducted at midnight, and he was all but forgotten until Daniel Defoe took up his cause in 1705 and pointed out that, without him, England should be Catholic and subject to the despotism of the Vatican, whereupon Queen Anne declared to the nation that King William was through and through a devoted Englishman whose people had disappointed him with their lack of affection so deeply that it "absolutely broke his heart." And thus the Little Dutchman passed into history. NGC graded MS-62.
Estimated Value $20,000 - 22,000.
Ex: Eli Wallit Coll. lot 382. Morton & Eden 12/11/2003; The "Sylvia" Collection, through Mark Rasmussen by private treaty.
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| Realized $36,800 |
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