1 Ducat - Frederick I

Frederick I had himself crowned King in Prussia at Königsberg in January 1701 — notably crowning himself, to avoid acknowledging any superior authority. The ducats issued in the first years of his reign were struck in the older German ducat standard his predecessors had used as Electors of Brandenburg, a deliberate continuity signal from a ruler otherwise obsessed with projecting novelty. Berlin's mint infrastructure at this date was still catching up to royal ambitions, and the 1703–1704 issues are notably scarce relative to later Frederician gold.