1 Ducat

Lübeck's ducat coinage persisted well into the eighteenth century largely because the city's merchant class demanded a reliable gold trade coin independent of territorial princes. By 1730, Lübeck was one of the last free imperial cities still striking gold on its own authority, a privilege it defended jealously against repeated encroachments from Hamburg and the Holstein nobility. The city's mint output in this decade was modest, which accounts for the relative infrequency of this date in the market.

The Behr reference remains the authoritative die study for Lübeck gold, and the 638b designation distinguishes a specific obverse die pairing not shared with the nearby 638a variety.