Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1709. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LOWLANDS. Belgian Insurrection. 1789-1790. AV Lion d'or (14 Florins) (8.28 gm, 6h). Brussels mint. Dated 1790. DOMINI EST REGNVM, lion holding sword and shield marked LIBERTAS; 1790• below / (cherub) ET IPSE DOMINABITVR GENTIVM, coats-of-arms of the eleven provinces around radiant sun. Delmonte 221; Friedberg 402 (Belgium); KM 51 (Austrian Netherlands). Choice EF, coppery toning, light rub over proof-like surfaces. Extremely rare; 3,805 pieces minted, of which 1,438 were re-melted. ($5000)

The southern provinces had passed from Spain to Austria under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht that ended the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713. A revolt brought brief independence in 1789-90, which was eventually suppressed. The Belgians would be passed on to France in 1795 and again to the Netherlands after the Napoleonic wars, only becoming fully independent after a second revolt in 1830.