Nomos 15

NETHERLANDS. The Dutch Republic. Medal (Silver, 60 mm, 92.04 g, 12 h), on the capture of the Spanish treasure fleet at Matanzas, by the Dutch under Admiral Piet Heyn in 1628, by Jan Smeltzing, '1628' (c. 1680). PET : PETRI . HEINIVS . FOED : BELG : ORD : ARCHITHALASS Bare-head bust of Piet Heyn three-quarter facing to right, wearing high ruff, cuirass and necklace of chains. Rev. HEINIAD NVP[ER] SENSIT SPOLIATA MATANCA View of the victory, by Dutch fleet under Heyn, over the Spanish Treasure Fleet at Matanzas Bay in Cuba. Betts 26. Sandwich AA4. TMNK 00430. Van Loon II, p. 172, 1. An extremely rare and important medal, attractively toned, very sharply struck, and most impressive. A few very minor marks, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the Clarendon Collection, H. J. Berk Fixed Price List of 28 August 2013, 27 and ex Schulman 19 November 1917, 420.

Struck late in the 17th century from dies cut by Johannes (Jan) Smeltzing (1656-1693), this medal commemorates one of the great Dutch naval victories: not only was it almost bloodless, it also provided the Dutch with over 11 million guilders in booty. That was enough to finance the entire Dutch army for some 8 months, which helped to enable the Dutch capture of the great fortress of s'Hertogenbosch by Frederick Henry of Orange in 1629. Heyn's ability as an admiral was so remarkable that he was able to take the treasure fleet without, apparently, a single Dutch casualty; very few Spanish were killed as well. Even more amazingly, after the Spanish ships surrendered Heyn arranged that their crews were given enough supplies to allow them to march back to Havana. ......................................................................................................This medal is sold accompanied by an engraved plate showing the capture of Matanzas along with a small vignette displaying a map of Cuba ( the whole is 31 x 39 cm). This very beautifully engraved depiction of the battle, complete with portraits of the victorious admirals Piet Heyn and Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq was originally made by the famous Dutch engraver Claes Jansz. Visscher (1587-1653) in 1628 and was available in editions in both Dutch and German. This example bears an ornamental German title and has the abbreviated numbered key in German as well. In fact, this lovely engraving is a purely German version, published by David Aubry for Matthäus Merian in Hanau, 1630. Another example, though not as fresh as this, can be found in the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University (record number 09079-1).