MA-Shops: VOC Silver Bar

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1739 Dutch East Indies VOC Silver Bar PR

1739-dutch-east-indies-voc-zilveren-baar

Dutch overseas Regions
VERENIGDE OOST-INDISCHE COMPAGNIE 1602-1799

Silver Bar
VOC Logo under the capital letter A.(Chamber of Amsterdam). Under the logo crest rearing buck. (mark of
Essayeur).
Weight: ca. 1972 gr.

From the VOC ship Rooswijk, sunk before the English coast on the Goodwin sands in 1739.
From 1602 till 1799 a complicated trade network developed as the VOC (Dutch East Indies Company)
expanded its presence in Asia. Ships filled with Asian spices and textile returned to Amsterdam to be sold on the
Dutch market. However, what could the Netherlands offer Asia to create a trade balance? Dutch products were
not in demand in Asia, but what was in demand was silver and gold. Ships sailed out from Amsterdam filled
with silver and gold coins, but also silver bars like the one we offer now.

During the 17th century there was a marked increase in the amount of metal being sent to Asia which stabilised
in 1650 with f500.000 to f1.000.000 worth of gold and silver was sent out. The silver bar became a part of that
equation in 1646.

This bar was part of a shipment on board of the Rooswijk that was on its way from Texel, The Netherlands to
Jakarta. This was only the ships second trip to Batavia having been built in 1737 in the Amsterdam shipyard. On
the 8th January 1739 it set sail, but one day later it hit a sandbank (Goodwin Sands) off the coast of England and
sank. The Captain of the ship was Daniel Ronzieres. The wreck was discovered by an amateur diver and was
recovered in 2004. The treasure was sold and in December 2005 silver in its original packaging was given to the
Dutch Finance minister in a ceremony that took place on the Dutch frigate ‘De Ruyter’.

The collector of VOC-items cannot miss this opportunity to obtain his own VOC silver bar.

Take a look for this item and other at MA-Shops/VOC

5500.00 EUR