Ferdinand Bol: Michiel de Ruyter as Lieutenant-Admiral: Wikimedia Commons

Another piece in the Dutch Art collection of silver pieces. All of these coins are done in 80% silver and are relatively small, but they are quite interesting as they depict both a painting and the portrait of an artist from the Dutch Golden Age. Many of these paintings are quite well known... and some a little less so.

For me, this particular artist and painting weren't really one that I knew... but they are showing at the Rijksmuseum up in Amsterdam. Likely, it isn't one of the really famous ones that you see immediately like the Nachtwacht... but more like one of the those that have to share a room and a wall with other pieces of fine art!

This painting is from 1667, and was painted by Ferdinand Bol (and possibly an apprentice) to commemorate the Four Days Battle against the English. de Ruyter is one of these famous admirals from that era, and you see quite a number of streets named after him.

I'm afraid that portraits don't really translate so well to silver and gold pieces. There is always something about them that make the faces and people look a bit ghoulish. This particular piece is no different, as it features a rough cropping of the admiral whilst neglecting his flagship in the background of the painting.

Personally, I would have thought that the flagship behind was as important to the artwork, and would look better on a coin anyway! That said... I guess the original artwork was a portrait... and it would be weird to omit the main focus!

On the other side of the silver piece is the portrait of the painter, Ferdinand Bol. The admiral's image on the other side is much better rendition of this artist portrait. It already features the weird hollow eyes that really bug me about precious metal portraits... it looks like the artist has recently risen from the undead!

So, that was another piece from the Dutch series of silver pieces that commemorate the Dutch Golden Age in paintings. It was a time when the Dutch were ascendant in the world and as such, produced incredible displays of artwork that is still revered through to today.

This isn't my favourite piece... but still, it is nice to have! I do think that it would be one of the first to trade away if it came to it. I prefer non-portrait images on my silver!

Coin Tracking

Looking for a quick and easy way to keep track of your cryptocurrencies? Coin Tracking offers a free service that includes manual tracking or automatic tracking via APIs to exchanges, allowing you to easily track and declare your cryptocurrencies for taxation reports. Coin Tracking can easily prepare tax information sheets that are catered to each countries individual taxation requirements (capital gains, asset taxation, FIFO). Best to declare legally and not be caught out when your crypto moons and you are faced with an unexpected taxation bill (unless you are hyper secure and never attach any crypto with traceable personal information, good luck with that!).

Keep Your Crypto Holdings Safe with Ledger

Ledger is one of the leading providers of hardware wallets with the Ledger Nano S being one of the most popular choices for protecting your crypto currencies. Leaving your holdings on a crypto exchange means that you don’t actually own the digital assets, instead you are given an IOU that may or may not be honoured when you call upon it. Software and web based wallets have their weakness in your own personal online security, with your private keys being vulnerable in transit or whilst being stored upon your computer. Paper wallets are incredibly tiresome and still vulnerable to digital attacks (in transit) and are also open to real world attacks (such as theft/photography).

Supporting a wide range of top tokens and coins, the Ledger hardware wallet ensures that your private keys are secure and not exposed to either real world or digital actors. Finding a happy medium of security and usability, Ledger is the leading company in providing safe and secure access to your tokenised future!