Money and precious metals
Only three of the 300 estate inventories included in Achter de Gevels van Delft (p. 131) noted accounts with banks, none of them in Delft. Everyone else kept all their cash in their house. The 20 estate inventories in Maria's tax bracket (the highest) and time period (1738 to 1762) had cash money of 239,121 guilders, an average of about 11,900 guilders. Maria had almost exactly that.
When Maria died, this cash was in chests in her upstairs rooms. In addition, she had coins from foreign mints, jewelry, mostly pearls and diamonds, and dozens of items of worked gold and silver.
They added up to over 11,000 guilders in cash, almost three hundred pearls and diamonds, a pound and a half of worked gold worth about 1,192 guilders, and over 33 pounds of worked silver worth about 1,560 guilders.
Total: 13,821 guilders, plus the gemstones and their settings.
| Article 74: Coins, gold, and silver | |
| Cash found in the iron chest in the upper front room | 6185 gl 13 st |
| in the bedroom of the deceased in a cash box | 3697 gl 19 st |
| Gold coins and foreign money | 1133 gl 9 st |
| Silver coins and foreign gold | 52 gl 1 st |
| total: 11,069 gl 2 st | |
| Article 75: Jewels and pearls: > 197 pearls, > 97 diamonds | |
| Article 76: Worked gold: 1 pound 10 ounces 7 Engels 13 azen | ~ 1192 gl 10 st |
| Article 77: Worked silver: 33 pounds 10 ounces 7 Engels | ~ 1560 gl |
| total: 2,752 gl 10 st |
| total | average | Maria | |
|---|---|---|---|
| diamonds | 1836 | ||
| pearls | 3981 |
The inventory speak of an "iron chest". The money chest (geldkoffer) below dates from 1740.
