Owner Comments:
On February 7, 1901, Queen Wilhelmina married Hendrik, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Theirs was an unhappy marriage as Hendrik was powerless in the Netherlands and often referred to himself as a “decoration”. However, they did manage to have one child together, a daughter, named Juliana, born in 1909.
This particular coin has a high level of red copper toning. Toning like this can occur when concentrated spots of incompletely mixed copper alloy form on the surface of a gold coin. The copper then begins to oxidize, giving this coin its red appearance.
This 1911 NGC MS-65 10 gulden coin designed by J. C. Wienecke and minted after a 13 year absence features the bust of a more mature 30-year-old Queen Wilhelmina. Mintage figures for this year are 774,544.
I purchased this coin as a PCGS MS-65 on May 28, 2009. As it was with the 1898 and 1917 coins, I had to cross the 1911 over to NGC for inclusion into this registry set. With a goal of MS-65 or higher for this set, I needed this coin to cross at the same grade or higher. I also understood that I was taking the risk that it would grade lower since I gave instructions to cross the coin over at any grade. I figured that with infrequent and/or expensive upgrades at best, that the risk was well worth it. To my delight, the coin crossed over at the same grade to become one of five NGC top-pop coins in this set.