1 Ducat - Charles Rudolph and bishop John Francis Schenk of Württemberg

The Swabian Circle — one of the ten Imperial Circles established under Maximilian I — retained the right to strike coinage well into the eighteenth century, a privilege increasingly rare among the administrative subdivisions of the late Holy Roman Empire. This ducat was issued under the joint authority of Charles Rudolph of Württemberg-Neuenstadt and Bishop John Francis Schenk von Stauffenberg of Constance, the two presiding directors of the Circle at the time, whose names appear on the coin by virtue of office rather than personal sovereignty.

Circle coinage of this period was primarily intended to regulate the chaotic patchwork of local issues circulating across Swabia. The 1737 date places this piece late in the series; Circle mint activity effectively collapsed within a generation.