European Medals from 1513 to 1788
Netherlands, The Dutch Republic. Medal (Silver, 50mm, 47.47 g 12), on the suppression of civic unrest, by Renier Arondeaux, 1696. MOTOS PRÆSTAT COMPONERE FLVCTVS (= it is better to control the billowing waves , Virgil, Aeneid I, 135) Neptune in biga drawn by seahorses to right; above to left and right, blowing wind; below floating in the waves, nest with kingfishers flying off. Rev. HALCYONIBUS REDVCTIS / SENATVS AMSTELOD / CIVIBVS SVIS HOC / ANTIQVÆ VIRTVTIS / SPECTAT ÆQ FIDEI / PRÆMIUM LARGITVR (= The Halcyons having returned, the city council of Amsterdam gives its citizens this gift of ancient virtue and wondrous faith ); Two kingfishers in a nest floating on the sea, below, MDCXVI; below date, punched A (=artist’s signature). TMNK 01320Van Loon IV, p. 221, II. A very attractive, lightly toned and lustrous piece. A few very minor marks, and a collector’s punch on the reverse, otherwise , extremely fine. This elegant piece commemorates the suppression of the riots of January 1696. They occurred when the city’s undertakers, concerned by funeral reforms including steep taxes, took to the streets and sacked a number of official buildings. They were almost immediately put down by troops who were rushed to the city by the authorities. A whole series of very similar medals were produced because of these events, by several different engravers (also including Boskam and Dishoecke). Arondeaux made three reverse dies: one signed with his punched initial, one with the initial in the die, and one with a full signature. This is probably the least common.