102197 | UNITED STATES & NETHERLANDS. Treaty of Commerce silver Medal.

102197  |  UNITED STATES & NETHERLANDS. Treaty of Commerce silver Medal. Issued 1782 (34mm, 13.90 g, 12h). By J. G. Holtzhey.

 

FAVTISSIMO FOEDERE JVNCTÆ / DIE VII OCTOB MDCCLXXXII (by a most auspicious treaty), Fama (Rumor) seated right upon a cloud, trumpeting and cradling crowned coats-of-arms representing the Dutch Republic and the United States; club and lion skin of Hercules to left // JVSTITIAM ET NON TEMNERE DIVOS (learn justice and not to despise the gods), garlanded pyramidal statue with shield and crossed fasces, which a flying Mercury crowns to upper right; to lower right, basket of fruit set upon anchor; in background, French cock standing right, head left, crowing over the treaty; in two lines in exergue, S. P. Q. AMST. / SACRVM. Edge: Plain.

 

Betts 605. PCGS SP-62. Attractively toned, with some hues of olive-argent and cobalt, along with a great deal of brilliance. Undoubtedly one of the finest examples of the type extant, and extremely rare as such. Far superior to the specimens in the Ford and LaRiviere collections, and much more difficult to find than the similar larger module of the design.

 

John Adams, the future first Vice President of the United States and second President, served as America's first ambassador to the Dutch Republic at a location in The Hague that became one of America's first embassies in the world. In 1782, he signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which strengthened economic ties between the two nations, as well as served as a way to cement America's status as a nascent yet burgeoning nation.

 

Upload: 1 June 2023.