THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
and the Bishops of Utrecht, with each of which are
connected elaborate monetary systems of long dura-
tion and signal importance. The coinages of Holland
(county) and West Friesland, as well as that of the See
of Utrecht, commence abruptly, and we have evidently
a good deal yet to learn about the products of the
parent mints of these districts. By the Amersfoort
Find (189-t) some additions were made to our acquaint-
ance with the gold currency of Gueldres ; but there
were almost certainly coins of Holland and Utrecht
prior to any at present identifiable ; the sumptuous
gold florins of the latter may be commended to notice.
Besides the feudal currencies of the Netherlands there
are those of the United Provinces, of the Batavian
Republic, of the Brabantine Revolution of 1790, of
the Austrian, Spanish, and English rulers, and of the
kingdoms of Holland, the Netherlands, and the Bel-
gians, without reckoning a vast Dutch colonial series
extending over two centuries and a half, and at one
period emanating independently from each province.
It is unnecessary to point out the voluminous and
intricate monetary policy arising out of the unwieldy
and decentralised imperial system, and appurtenant to
a scheme of local government by vassals of the Crown
often as powerful as the Crown itself; but with the
formation of Holland into a kingdom in 1806' the old
regime may be considered to have been brought to an
end, as the subsequent changes in 1816 and 1830 were
matters of detail. Throughout the less remote epoch,
from the sixteenth century downward, the most attrac-
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