Leiden

CNG 108, Lot: 1062. Estimate $1500. Sold for $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DUTCH REVOLT (Nederlandse Opstand), Low Countries. Leiden. Besieged by the Spanish, 1573-1574. AR 28 Stuiver Klippe (37x36mm, 19.50 g). Dated 1574. (rosette) GODT BEHOEDE · LEYDEN, civic coat-of-arms; star above, saltire below; all within ornate frame with tendrils sprouting from vase above; x N x O x V x L x S G x I x P x L x A x C x in band around; saltire and rosette stops / HÆC LIBERTATIS ERGO (eight-rayed star), lion rampant left, holding Liberty cap set on pole; 15 74 across field; crown above; floral stops. P&W Le 05.3; Gelder, Noodmunten, 54c; Delmonte, Argent 169b; Mailliet 2⁴; Lasser 1101; CNM 2.32.9. In NGC encapsulation, 4212885-001, graded AU 58.

Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.26427 (Numismatica Genevensis SA VII, 27 November 2012), lot 498 (hammer 5000 CHF on an estimate of 600 CHF).

Owing to ill-health of the Duke of Alba, Philip II, keen on prosecuting the war to recover his possessions in the Netherlands, appointed Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens to continue subduing the Dutch. One of the cities that had sided against the Spanish, Leiden was besieged by Resquens from November 1573 to July 1574. To break the siege, the Dutch cut the dikes, and thus enabled ships to carry provisions to the inhabitants of the flooded town. As a reward for the city’s heroic defense, Willem van Oranje the following year granted them a university charter, from which the University of Leiden was established.