Owner Comments:
"First year of two year type with a paschal lamb between the knight's legs. A wonderful example with full relief and detail. Creamy lustrous surfaces throughout free of any wear or contact marks. The finest certified example. A RARELY offered type in an exquisite state of preservation." Ex: Stack's Sale of the Clifford T. Weihman Collection of Gold Coins of the World. October 18-20, 1951, Lot #469." This catalog from the 1951 sale is viewable here
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516334
The next-best graded example is in MS62, and can be viewed here:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/netherlands/utrecht-provincial-gold-ducat-1674-ms62-ngc-/a/3040-33117.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Inventory-BuyNowFromOwner-ThisAuction-120115
I think it is inferior-looking. But more importantly, it doesn't have the lamb of peace. I have seen the MS61 graded example too, and it looks better than the MS62 example, and also has the lamb.
This type was struck in Utrecht steadily with minor stylistic changes from about 1587 to the 1730's without any significant design change. 1674 was a bad year for Utrecht, it was mostly destroyed in a storm on August 1. The City had been previously occupied and looted by French forces in 1672. 1674 was also the year of the Womens Petition against Coffee, or, the Coffee Revolt, in London.
1674 was the year Father Jacques Marquette, the first European settler in Chicago, explored the Chicago region and wintered in the area for the 1674-5 season. I bet it was cold.
This coin is from the Clifford T. Weihman Collection of Gold Coins of the World, sold off by Stacks in 1951. This collector had a lot of the U.S. gold coins from the E.H.R. Green Collection, and they in turn wound up in the collection of Josiah K. Lilly. "It is assumed that most or all of these coins would now be on display in the Lilly Collection in the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washingon, D.C."
Mr. Weihman was a vegetable oil importer in New York City. He was one of three collectors in the world who acquired a set of quarter eagles, half eagles, eagles and double eagles. According to one account:
"Col. E. H. R. Green was one of the richest men in America, being the son of the infamous Hetty Green, better known as 'The Witch of Wall Street.' He was a hoarder, and there were enough coins in his estate for two sets of quarter eagles, half eagles, and eagles. There were also numerous double eagles. Stack's [a company] reportedly acquired the coins from the estate slowly, over a period of years, circa 1943-1945.
The coins were sorted by Stack's into a 'number 1 set' and a 'number 2 set," with the number 1 set having the better pieces. Mr. Stack said the number 1 quarter eagle, half eagle, and eagle sets were photographed circa 1945-1946 by Stack's staff photographer, Sam Andre, who also worked for PIC magazine (a large format competitor to Life), and were made up into individual photo albums. Mr. Stack believes that three sets of the albums were made. One went to his father, Morton, and one to his uncle, Joseph. The third went to an American collector named Clifford T. Weihman. Mr. Stack said they had misplaced his father's set, his uncle's set was in the Stack's library, and the location of the third set was unknown. . . . Stack's had occasion to handl the Weihman coins again in 1953 or 1954, selling them to pharmaceutical magnate Josiah K. Lilly. It is assumed that most or all of these coins would now be on display in the Lilly Collection in the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washingon, D.C." See Lester, Carl N., Numismatic "Gumshoe:" On the Trail of King Farouk.