1082660 | NETHERLANDS. Alkmaar. 1573 Cast Lead/Tin Uniface 1/4 Thaler or 1/4 Daalder. PCGS MS61. 7.68gm. City gate divides date, 7 - 3 to either side / (blank). Brause-Mansfeld Tf. 38, 3; Maillet Tf. 1, 3; Vanhoudt 469; Engel/Fabre/Perret/Wattier 4.17.1.4; Purmer/van der Wiel Al 03; CNM 2.01.5 (this coin) .

Issued during the siege by Spanish troops under Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo.

CNM Plate Coin.


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In 1573 the city underwent a siege by Spanish forces under the leadership of Don Fadrique, son of the Duke of Alva. The citizens sent urgent messages for help to the Prince of Orange; he responded by promising to open the floodgates of the dykes and flood the region if the need arose, which despite the protestations of the peasantry, fearful for their harvest, he proceeded to do.

Some of his dispatches fell into the hands of Don Fadrique, and, with the waters beginning to rise, the Spaniards raised the siege and fled. It was a turning point in the Eighty Years War and gave rise to the expression, "Victory begins at Alkmaar"). The event is still celebrated every year in Alkmaar on 8 October, the day the siege ended. [Wikipedia].