Lot 1125

Driekantje van 3 Reaal or coin 18 stuivers (1799-1803) (Scho. 1368 / Passon 59.3 RR / KM 7) - 6.70 gram – XF - RR, very rare - To combat the shortage of small change, during the administration of Governor Lauffer (1799-1803), approximately 7,500 Spanish matten, 8 reales with portrait, were cut into 4 more or less equal parts and stamped with a five-petalled flower with dots between the leaves. These ‘guillotines’ or Driekantjes were put into circulation for 18 stuivers. Some fifteen years later, around 1815, the Driekantjes had become more valuable than the 18 stuivers for which they had been put into circulation. The English governor John Hodgson therefore ordered that the copies still in circulation (approx. 7,000 pieces) be provided with an extra oval '21' strike, thus upgrading them to 21 stuivers. In the meantime, new, smaller 18 stuivers were produced from 8 reales cut into five. The heavier triangular coins with the right angle had disappeared from circulation in the meantime. Only a few pieces of this first edition are currently known, ex collection Vinkenborg