1⁄16 Ducat Linsendukat

Nuremberg's tiny fractional ducats — the so-called Linsendukat, named for their resemblance to a lentil — were struck primarily as New Year's gifts distributed by the city council, a tradition the republic maintained well into the eighteenth century. At 0.22 grams, producing consistent blanks at this scale pushed the technical limits of the period's rolling and cutting equipment, and planchet irregularities are endemic to the type rather than signs of any particular die failure.