1732 AD., Dutch East India Company, Dordrecht mint, Duit, Scholten 82.

Dutch East India Company, minted in Dordrecht (Holland), moneyer Otto Buck (1731-1756), initial ❀ (rose), 1732 AD.,
Duit (21-22 mm / 3,26 g),
Obv.: crowned ams of Holland: a lion rampant to left - gekroond wapen van Holland met klimmende leeuw naar links.
Rev.: VOC-monogram ("Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie"), date 1753 below, a rose between dots above; hints for mint error or overstriking between the letters of the monogram - het V.O.C. monogram met daarboven een vijfbladige rozet tussen punten, onder het monogram het jaartal.
Scholten 82 ; C 2 .

For use in colonial trade between the Netherlands and its dominions. By the seventeenth century the Netherlands had become a prosperous country through its shipping trade across Europe and its trade links with the Far East. The United Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) was formed in 1602 in order to unite various small trade companies which had created commercial links with the India and the Far East during the late sixteenth century. With bases in Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, the Company became a powerful trade organization. It was even given powers of rule over its dominions, along similar lines to those of the English East India Company. Like its British rival, the Dutch East India Company issued coins for trade in its dominions. The coin bears the Company's monogram (VOC) and the date.
In 1723 the Company needed small change in the Indies. The supply of coinage there was low since in 1722 the Japanese banned export of copper cash (pitis) which were the main source of coin upto that moment. The Company was forced to look elsewhere for sources of small coin and it produced an extensive series of copper Duit coins struck for their colonies from 1726 to 1794. On the obverse is the balemark of the United East India Company, forming the letters VOC (Vereengide Oost-Indische Compagnie). The reverse design is the coat of arms of the issuing province. 5 of the 7 provinces issued coin for the Indies (Holland, Gelderland, Westfrisia, Utrecht and Zeeland).

The duit was a Dutch coin worth 2 penning, with 8 duit equal to one stuiver and 160 duit equal to one gulden. It was once used in the Americas while under Dutch rule.
Duit is also the Malay and the informal Indonesian equivalent of the English term "money".

Buck, Otto, geb. te Leiden, was sedert 1734 muntmeester in de Munt van Holland te Dordrecht. Hij was gehuwd met Maria Sixti, die 8 April 1785 overleed. Buitengewoon met aardsche goederen gezegend (alleen op de bank van Engeland had hij 32000 pond sterling staan) stichtte hij in de nabijheid der stad aan den Reeweg de buitenplaats ‘Noordhove’ (gesloopt 1801), die hij weelderig inrichtte. Hij bezat een uitgebreide verzameling van mineralen, medailles, rariteiten en boeken, geschat op ƒ 14.000. Des winters bewoonde hij het groote huis ‘Oostenrijck’ (thans Pictura), naast de Grafelijkheidsmunt, rijk voorzien met behangsels, spiegels, schilderijen enz., geschat op ƒ 20.000. Hij overleed 5 Aug. 1771, en werd in de Groote kerk begraven.

Peter / "Figleaf" 30/10/2010:

"Very interesting mint error. I don't think it is an "overstrike" in the sense that this was another coin before.

On the monogram side, I see part of the arms side, incuse and in mirror image. If it would have been just incuse, the "previous" strike would have been classical brockage. I can't explain the mirror image.

I think this coin started its career as a mint error. It was discovered somewhere in the quality control process of the mint. Normally, it would have been returned to the oven as scrap, but one side was well struck and the other vague, so someone carefully fitted the coin on the die and told the minter to have another go. Alternatively, the boy putting the blanks on the lower die could have discovered the error and quickly hid the coin. He and the minter were paid by weight of coins struck, so he had an interest in not wasting any coins. He may have used a pause to fit the coin back on the die, give the minter a wink and saved a coin that would otherwise have been subtracted from their production."