1 Ducat - Frederick I

Frederick I had himself crowned King in Prussia in 1701 — not King of Prussia, a title the Habsburgs refused to sanction — in a ceremony at Königsberg he largely choreographed himself. The ducats issued under his reign reflect the ambition of a ruler constructing royal legitimacy from scratch. Brandenburg-Prussia had no tradition of gold ducat coinage to speak of; these issues were as much political instruments as they were trade currency.

The 1706 date falls during the War of the Spanish Succession, when Frederick was extracting concessions from Emperor Leopold in exchange for Prussian troops — a dynamic that defined much of his foreign policy.