LOW COUNTRIES. Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden (Dutch Republic). 1581-1795. Medal (Silver, 70 mm, 122.07 g, 12 h), on the death of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter on 29 April 1676. By C. Adolphzoon, no date (1676). MICHAEL DE RVITER PROVINCIARVM CONFOEDERAT: / BELGIC: ARCHITHA=LASSVS DVX ET EQVES. Draped and cuirassed half length bust of de Ruyter facing slightly to left; wearing cravat and collar of the Order of St. Michael. Rev. PVGNANDO• Scene of the Four Days' Battle on 1-4 June 1666: Dutch and English warships in action; in the front, burning vessel. Eimer 238. Scheer 788. Van Loon III, p. 186. Very rare. Lustrous and with beautiful old collection toning, a splendid example. Tiny marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.



Arguably the greatest of the many Dutch naval heroes, Michiel de Ruyter spent his life at sea, serving the Dutch Republic in battles across the globe. As admiral, he led the Dutch fleet in numerous engagements during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 1660s, securing his most brilliant victory in the famous Raid on the Medway (19-24 June 1667). In a daring maneuver, the Dutch fleet sailed up the River Medway to the English naval base at Chatham, where they burned three capital ships and ten ships of the line, and captured the English flagship, HMS Royal Charles, towing it away as a prize. It was one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy’s history and arguably the most humiliating it ever suffered in home waters.

De Ruyter died ten years later from wounds sustained at the Battle of Augusta near Sicily, where he commanded a Dutch-Spanish fleet in an indecisive engagement against a superior French force. Revered by his sailors and respected by his enemies, he was so widely admired that even the French fleet reportedly fired a salute when his embalmed body was carried aboard his flagship past their line on its journey back to the Netherlands. De Ruyter was laid to rest in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam in a lavish tomb designed by the Flemish sculptor Rombout Verhulst.