1⁄48 Thaler - Frederick August I Gold Pattern

Pattern coinage from 1806 Saxony carries particular weight: Frederick August I received the title of King — elevated from Elector by Napoleon following the Peace of Pressburg — on December 20, 1806, and the Saxon mint responded with a flurry of pattern strikes testing new royal titulature across multiple denominations. A gold pattern of the 1⁄48 Thaler is a deliberate paradox: the denomination itself was a workaday copper piece, struck in gold only to demonstrate the die and record the new royal styling for court approval. No circulation was ever intended.