One from Every Country #9: Austrian Netherlands

This coin was a big deal when I got it. I had never held anything this old before, something from the 1700s...it seemed impossible to handle anything this old. When I was growing up, to me anything from WWII or older was a rare sight, but of course I wasn't really collecting too much back then either.

I would eventually learn that it is quite possible to get older issues, and in fact my oldest issue dates to the 300s B.C. today, when I got this one, it was my oldest by a wide margin.

It was the first coin I ever bought online, in 2008, and considering the condition, I probably overpaid at $20, but I still love it.

The Austrian Netherlands wasn't even around all that long. It was only in existence for 83 years, and in fact 1797 was it's last year of existence. It had ceased to be an actual place before that, as France seized it in 1794, but the Habsburgs held out hope of getting it back until 1797. Ironically, they didn't even want that area when it was created as an entity in 1714. (If Wikipedia is accurate)

Today it is Belgium, or at least part of what makes up Belgium, which, when this coin was issued, did not exist yet.

The denomination is kronenthaler, which means it is quite large. The large c under the portrait is the Prague mintmark. It is the only coin I have from this country, and as far as I know, is the only Habsburg portrait coin in my collection as well. (portrait coins are my favorites)