1 Ducat - Frederick Francis I

Frederick Francis I ruled Mecklenburg-Schwerin for an extraordinary 56 years, dying in 1837 at age 84 — making late issues like this one products of a reign that stretched back to the Napoleonic reorganization of the German states. The ducat denomination itself was an anachronism by 1830, minted more for presentation and trade purposes than domestic circulation, as the German states had been gravitating toward standardized thaler-based coinage for decades.

Mecklenburg-Schwerin's gold output was never prolific, and ducats of this reign survive in small numbers across all dates.