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Auction: 23126 - Spink Numismatic e-Circular 30: English and World Coins and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 9513

(x) Netherlands, Death of Willem Krul, Capture of Sint Eustatius, AR Medal, 1781, by Holtzhey, WILH CRUL TOPARCHA BURGST . PRAEF . CLASS . HOLL . & W-F., draped three-quarters bust right, rev. VI INFERIOR NON VIRTVTE., mourning figure leans on monument with urn, ship beyond, PUGN . OCCUB . IV FEB MDCCLXXXI in two lines in exergue, 45mm, 31.71g (Van loon 556; Betts 581), some tool marks to the obverse field, otherwise toned with a hue of blue, the reverse with a most pleasing flashy lustre, very fine / extremely fine

The Caribbean Island of Sint Eustatius was captured from the Dutch by the British during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in February 1781 by Lieutenant-General Sir John Vaughan and Admiral George Rodney. The capture proved to be controversial in Britain, as it was alleged that both Vaughan and Rodney had personally benefited from the capture of the Island. During a fierce thirty-minute naval engagement the Dutch vice-admiral Willem Crul was mortally wounded and subsequently died, his body was then brought ashore and buried with full military honours. The event subsequently immortalised Crul as a national hero in his native Netherlands. Multiple artworks, including in medallic forms, were produced in his honour and to chastise the actions of the British. By October of 1781 the island was once again successfully seized by the Dutch from the British.

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