1/2 Ducat - Frederick August I

Frederick August I — better known abroad as Augustus the Strong — was by 1710 ruling simultaneously as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, a dual role he had secured in 1697 by converting to Catholicism and outmaneuvering sixteen rival candidates for the Polish throne. The Dresden mint was producing gold fractions like this half ducat in part to service the enormous patronage economy surrounding his court, one of the most extravagant in Europe and financed heavily by Saxon silver mining revenues from the Erzgebirge.

The Great Northern War was still grinding through its final years, and Swedish pressure on Poland had at points forced Augustus from the Polish throne entirely — he was restored only after Poltava in 1709.