Owner Comments:
I have had raw 1612,1648 and 1649 Utrecht ducats since 2009. I got them after I read (listened to) a book called "A Splendid Trade" that year.
In 2015 I finally registered for Heritage, and I won this coin. It was the first coin I bought anywhere but Ebay. Also the first coin I bought "slabbed." I ended up getting the 1612 and 1649 slabbed myself and they can be found in this collection. The 1648 was kind of ragged looking, but struck well, and I sold it to someone on Ebay in 2020.
This is a fairly common date, especially for the 1600's. This is the perfect "entry level" mint state 1600's ducat. This is the date of the Peace of Westphalia which brought to a close the 30 years war. That was the treaty which brought to a close the war for independence of the northern provinces of the Netherlands against Hapsburg Spain.
Grade is relevant but does not control the appeal of these hand struck coins. Stacks in February, 2022 has an AU55 example of this same coin selling, but that coin is better centered and less wavy than this MS61 example here.
NGC has graded 18 of these; 1 in MS63, 4 in MS62 and 3 (including this one) in MS61. The rest are AU
PCGS has only graded 1 of these in MS62, and 7 in AU.