PCGS Now Using VS Reference on Gold Coinage of the Low Countries

PCGS recently updated reference listings on gold coinage from the Netherlands and other Low Countries. This update incorporates VS reference numbers from Hugo Vanhoudt and John Saunders book The Gold Coinage of the Low Countries, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands.

The book, published in 2024, is emerging as a major reference work for the coinage. Covering a vast timeline from Celtic to modern issues, it stands as a more complete work on this area of Europe. The Southern Low Countries include the regions of what is today Belgium, Luxembourg, southeast of the Netherlands and north of France. The Northern Low Countries include what is today the Netherlands. The book also includes issues from Dutch Overseas Territories of both the East Indies and the West Indies.

The reference VS will be in reference to the authors initials V for Vanhoudt and S for Saunders. The number will be the reference coin numbered in the catalog. So for instance if a Netherlands Utrecht ducat from 1647 was submitted to PCGS, it would be referenced VS-1418. With other works by the authors already in production, PCGS will be updating other references as they become available.