1602 Holland Covets Spanish America / Capture of the St. Jago Medal. Silver. 51.8 mm. 36.9 grams. Betts-23, Van Loon (I) Seite-564. VF-25 (NGC).An evenly toned, steel gray piece with all design elements clear despite moderate wear. The peripheries have toned in a lovely teal and gold iridescence, contributing to the pleasing overall eye appeal. An attractive mid-grade example. It is certainly one of the most imposing 17th-century Betts medals, and an example in the Ford Collection, Part XIII realized $11,000 in January 2006. The obverse shows the Spanish galleon St. Jago being taken as a Dutch prize in the South Atlantic in 1602. The reverse depicts Leo Belgicus chasing a horse symbolizing Spain westward, with a legend reminding Spain, in Latin, <em>The World is Not So Big That Where You Go I Cannot Follow.</em> This threatened that their rivalry would not be kept to just one world, i.e. Europe. The Dutch-Spanish rivalry defined the settlement of the New World for most of the 17th century, an era of piracy and conquest that still looms large in the American imagination.<p>Ex our (Coin Galleries) sale of the Walter E. Heightshoe Collection, July 2011, lot 1; our August 2013 Chicago ANA Auction, lot 1001.
