1/4 Ducat - Frederick I

Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was itself a product of the catastrophic fragmentation following the Thirty Years' War, carved out of the Ernestine inheritance in 1672 when Frederick I received his share of the divided duchy. This quarter ducat dates to a reign that lasted barely a decade before Frederick's death in 1691, and the tiny striking weight reflects the period's chronic shortage of gold specie in the Thuringian states — fractions this small were minted precisely because whole ducats were too valuable for most transactions.