1 Ducat - Carolus I

Charles I inherited the Crown of Aragon — and with it Valencia — before he ever set foot in Spain, having been raised entirely at the Burgundian court. Valencian minting rights operated under the old Crown of Aragon framework, which granted the city of Valencia considerable autonomy in its coinage. This ducat was struck to the same fineness standard that had governed Aragonese gold for generations, deliberately kept high to maintain exchange parity with Venetian and Florentine trade ducats circulating throughout the Mediterranean.

Cal#19 places this among the earliest Carolus issues for Valencia, a reign that would see the mint navigating both Comunero unrest on the Castilian side and the Germanies revolt within Valencia itself — 1519 to 1523 — disrupting production at intervals that help explain the relative scarcity of well-attributed pieces today.