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1/4 Ducat
| Issuer | Hamburg, Free Hanseatic city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1729 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/4 Ducat = 2 Mark (1/4 Dukat) (0.875) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Hamburg city arms (castle) displayed between two palm branches, with the mintmaster's initials positioned below the shield and the fractional denomination enclosed within a circle at the bottom of the design. The composition is rendered in a compact, high-relief style typical of early eighteenth-century German municipal gold coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Crowned double-headed imperial eagle displayed in the field, each head surmounted by a crown with a larger imperial crown above the central orb, the breast charged with an orb. The circular legend references the titles of Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI (Charles VI), reading CAROL VI D G ROM IMP SEMP AVG, arranged around the periphery in Latin characters. |
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| Additional information |
Hamburg's fractional ducat coinage of the early eighteenth century was produced primarily to facilitate trade with the Baltic and North Sea merchant networks, where small gold denominations settled accounts that silver groschen couldn't efficiently handle. The city's mint operated under the authority of the Senate rather than any territorial prince, which is why Hamburg continued striking its own gold well into the nineteenth century while surrounding territories were absorbed into larger monetary unions.
The Gaedechens reference for this type places it within a tightly documented sequence — Fr#1121 confirms the Freie confirms the Friedberg attribution to this specific municipal issue rather than an imperial or territorial mint.