1/4 Ducat - Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein

Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein served as Prince-Bishop of Olomouc from 1738 until his death in 1745, a tenure shaped almost entirely by the War of the Austrian Succession, which broke out the year before this coin was struck. Silesia — the economic backbone of Habsburg Central Europe — was being carved away by Frederick the Great as this issue left the dies. Quarter ducats of this type circulated in a region acutely aware that the political order underwriting them was under direct military threat.

KM#464 is among the scarcer denominational fractions from the Olomouc bishopric series. At under a gram of near-pure gold, attrition rates were high.