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1/2 Ducat
| Issuer | City of Zürich |
|---|---|
| Year | 1639 |
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| Value | 1/2 Ducat |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Civic inscription S·P·Q· / THVRI / CENS· arranged in three lines within an ornate laurel wreath, the date 1639 displayed at the base of the wreath. The wreath is rendered in fine detail with berried branches tied at the bottom, and the entire design is enclosed within a beaded inner border. The lettering is bold and deeply struck against a smooth field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Zürich's autonomous coinage authority in the seventeenth century was fiercely guarded by the city council, which resisted repeated pressure from the Swiss Confederation to standardize gold issues across cantons. This half ducat falls within a sustained minting program that kept Zürich's municipal gold circulating independently through the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that severely disrupted coin production across much of German-speaking Europe while paradoxically sustaining demand for trusted city-state gold.
The Hürlimann and HMZ references place this among a closely documented series, with individual die marriages distinguishable across the 1141c classification.