Charles II. 1660-1685. Silver Medal 1667, 28.07 g. Peace of Breda. By C. Adolfszoon. An English and a Dutch ship sail peacefully side by side. Rv. Shields of Britain and Holland upon a festoon of fruit, crowned by an olive wreath. BRITAN : BATAV : PAX 1667. Plain edge. 43.9 mm. Eimer 242. MI i 534/184. van Loon II, 583,4. Saunders/Vanhoudt 1667-9, Gutes vorzüglich / About Uncirculated. Prachtvolle Erhaltung mit herrlicher Patina / Beautiful condition with magnificent patina.

Purchased from Baldwin & Sons, London, June 2020.

The Peace of Breda, or Treaty of Breda, signed on 31 July 1667, marked the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665 - 1667). It was a series of treaties between England, the Dutch Republic, France, and Denmark-Norway. The negotiations took place in the Dutch city of Breda, and the settlement reflected the complex political and military realities of the time.

The territorial exchanges, particularly the English retention of New Netherland (including modern day New York) and the Dutch retention of Suriname, had long-term implications for colonial development in the Americas.

This medal was crafted by Christopher Adolfszoon, the same artist who cut the dies for the medal described in MI i 528/176. For both, he has committed the same mistake of placing Scotland in the first and fourth quarters of the British shield.

This medal does not mention Breda or give any specific date beyond the year. It probably alludes not only to the treaty of peace but also to those amicable relations between the two countries which the French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands made urgent and which were cemented afterwards by a treaty arranged and concluded in five days by De Witt and Sir William Temple.