Groningen. City gold Ecu au St. Jean (10 Ducat) 1561 AU55 NGC, Fr-Unl., Delm-1154 (R4; citing this coin), cf. van der Chijs-XVII, 141 (for Daalder), Schellhass Collection-Unl., CNM-2.21.2, PW-Unl. 33.95gm. Struck from Daalder dies (cf. Dav-8878). SANCTVS ★ IOANNES | BABTISTA ★ Aᵒ ★ 1561, John the Baptist, the Patron Saint of Groningen, standing facing with the index finger of his right hand pointing to the Lamb of God (Agnus dei), which is seated upon a book in his left arm / MONETA ★ NOVA ★ ARGENTEA ★ GRONINGENSIS, crowned double-headed eagle with coat of arms of Groningen upon chest. An extremely rare "Écu of St. John," noted in Delmonte as R4, indicating 2 or 3 known. While the equivalent daalder type was known to Pieter Otto van der Chijs, who described it in his De Munten van Friesland, Groningen en Drenthe (der Heeren van Koevorden) (1855) as the first Rijksdaalder of Groningen, and noted the presence of four or five specimens in collections located in The Hague, Groningen, and Utrecht, he made no reference whatsoever to a striking in gold; similarly, it was missing from the 1892 Catalogus der Gouden, Zilveren en Koperen Specien of the Utrecht Coin Cabinet's collection. Interestingly, in his records of the Daalder, van der Chijs records the weights of three such examples, all of which differ greatly from one another, perhaps corresponding to the fact that the issue very much represented an experimental type for the city, produced in response to its rising economic importance. For his part, Delmonte knew only of this piece, sold by Jacques Schulman in 1925, which was described as unique in that catalog. Additionally, a piece bearing the same design, but of 4 Ducats weight and struck from 1/2 Daalder dies, appeared in Leu Numismatik Auction 80 (May 2001, lot 609). It would thus appear that the issue was struck in various sizes, and as such this specific size and weight may very well be one of a kind. Ex. Jacques Schulman (November 1925, Lot 829)

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