The Siege of Haarlem

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1226. Estimate $2500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $2500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LOW COUNTRIES, Haarlem. AR Daalder Klippe (27.02 g, 6h). Siege issue. Emission of 21 December 1572. City coat-of-arms; star above upturned crescent stamp above; coat-of-arms of Holland stamp to right; 1572 stamp below / Blank. NPM Ha 01; Gelder 1a; Delmonte, Argent 142a; Mailliet 1(8); Passon 2.16.2 (this coin illustrated on cover). VF, toned, small hairline flan crack. Trace of plate’s original hallmark (coat-of-arms) to left.

Ex J.D. Lasser Collection; Coin Investment 31(21 November 1988), lot 227.

In late 1572, the Spanish, commanded by Fernando Álvarez, Duke of Alba, besieged Haarlem. With nearly 20,000 troops, the Spanish assumed an easy victory, considering Haarlem had only 6,000 armed men. However, their two attempted assaults (one in December and the next in January of 1573) met with overwhelming resistance and resulted in considerable losses. In an attempt to taunt the Spanish soldiers, the well-supplied townspeople occasionally threw bread over the city walls and mounted statues plundered from Catholic churches on the ramparts. In July 1573, the Spanish were finally able to break the town’s supply line. With its food source gone, Haarlem was forced to surrender, thus ending the 10-month siege. The Spanish, hungry for vengeance, executed more than 1,700 of the town’s citizens.