The Coins
The Royal Dutch Mint has issued three special commemorative Daalder coins containing images of the Half Moon, and specifically honoring the New Netherland Museum. An extended description of each coin will be available on this site in the near future.
Half Moon Daalder Coins
In 1991, the Royal Dutch Mint struck the first Half Moon Daalder, in commemoration of the 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson's Halve Maen. This historic strike specifically honored The New Netherland Museum's efforts to commemorate the historical foundation underlying the long standing friendship and alliance between The Netherlands and The United States.
In December, 1993, The New Netherland Museum wanted to express its appreciation for past support and contributions to the success of the Museum by both the Netherland-America Foundation and the Netherlands-American Amity Trust. The Museum did so by commissioning a second Daalder known as the NAF - NAAT Daalder, in honor of these two major service organizations devoted to enhancing the friendship between The Netherlands and The United States.
The Royal Dutch Mint first struck this NAF - NAAT Daalder on December 6, 1993. A full description follows:
The Half Moon Daalder
The special NAF-NAAT Half Moon Daalder, was minted in Utrecht, Holland at the Royal Dutch Mint. The design of the coin is a superb symbol of over 200 years of Dutch-American friendship and was crafted by Mintmaster van Draanen's top numismatic designers. A rendition of the coin's obverse and reverse appears below, 50% larger than actual. (See end of page for actual size).
The Half Moon Daalder is a specially struck 25 gram sterling silver gem-like medallion in "fleur de coin" condition, encased in a hard plastic coin holder. It is about the same size and thickness as the U.S. Eisenhower Dollar, while being 10% heavier.
The obverse is identical to the rendition of the Half Moon on the previous Daalder recently sold in support of the New Netherland Museum. The reverse consists of the Dutch and American flags surrounded by "Netherland-America Foundation," "Netherlands-American Amity Trust," and a crossed representation of the two organization's initials.
This will be the first coin struck by the Dutch Mint containing the flag of the United States. The American flag is positioned slightly higher, and to the right of the Dutch flag, as appropriate for U.S. flag tradition when our flag is displayed with that of another nation. The Dutch flag waves slightly in front of the American flag, as appropriate for current Dutch practice.
The Netherland-America Foundation and the Netherlands-American Amity Trust are the premier service organizations celebrating the tradition and future of Dutch-American relations. They are among the first foreign (from a Dutch perspective) organizations honored in this manner (It has been confirmed that the International Red Cross' symbol also appeared on a previous Dutch Commemorative coin).
Cognizance by the Dutch Royal Family was welcomed. Both the Netherlands American Foundation (NAF) and the Netherlands-American Amity Trust (NAAT) were established under the patronage of HRH Princess Margriet and Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven, and have been kept apprised of the progress achieved in creating these Half Moon Daalders.
The extremely low mintage (1500), and wide distribution (1100), will assure substantial numismatic value. The original Half Moon Daalders were sold out in less than ½ year, primarily to visitors to the Half Moon, and the New Netherland Museum. The Museum has a few left and will sell them to serious coin collectors at $100 each. The Dutch Mint sold a number of original Half Moon Daalders in Holland and at the 1993 American Numismatic Convention in Baltimore, and has kept a few reserved for mint related purposes.
Costs of producing the coins was financed by the Wysmuller Family. The cost of approximately $40 per coin covered both the Museum's and the Dutch Mint's expenses, including acquisition, preparation and striking of the polished sterling silver blanks into finished coins, encased in plastic holders and delivered in blue official mint presentation cases. Each coin came with a certificate of authenticity and record of mintage. A $16 contribution, shared by the Museum, NAF, and NAAT was generated with each coin sold directly by the Dutch Mint.
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Actual size of silver NAAT-NAF Daalder.
Click on coin for a larger, more detailed representation.
Questions? Comments? E-mail info@newnetherland.org