SINCONA Auction 96
SINCONA British Collection - Part 6
(British Gold and Silver Medals)
Bid
| Starting price | 1,000 CHF |
| Opening bid | 1,000 CHF |
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Description
Elizabeth I. 1558-1603. Silver Medal 1587, 45.80 g. Protestants supported in the United Provinces. By G. v. Bijlaer. Elizabeth enthroned, tramples on a hydra: Leicester seizes her robe imploringly; five boys, kneeling and bearing the shields of Guelderland, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, and Friesland. DEO . OPT . MAX . LAVS . ET . HONOR . IN DE ÆVVM . QVOD . Ex . 1587. Rv. Pope, bishops and others, above the name of Jehovah in Hebrew. QVEM . DEVS . CONFICIET SPIRITV . ORIS . SVI . Stops on both sides, crosses saltire. Plain edge. 51.8 mm. Eimer 53. MI i 139/99. van Loon I, 369. Saunders/Vanhoudt 1587-1. Fast vorzüglich / About Extremely Fine. Feine Patina / Nicely toned.
From the auction Laurens Schulman 27, Bussum, April 2002, lot 995.
England, under Queen Elizabeth I, provided significant support to the Protestant rebels in the United Provinces (modern-day Netherlands) during their war against Spanish Habsburg rule. This was part of the Eighty Years’ War (1568 - 1648), in which the Dutch sought independence from Catholic Spain, led by King Philip II.
By 1587, England’s intervention had produced mixed results as the leadership of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Commander of the English force in the Netherlands was ineffective and he struggled to control both his English troops and Dutch allies.
Van Loon supposes this medal to have been struck by some over-zealous reformers and partisans of Leicester, who offered the government to Elizabeth and throws a mystery over the termination of the legend as implying more than the suppliants dare express. Now in size, style, taste and workmanship, as well as mint mark, it corresponds with other medals struck at this period by order of the States. It can then scarcely be considered as the production of a party cabal, but a fair expression of the sentiments of the Provinces.