Frederick William I had little patience for the ceremonial excesses of his father's court, and the ducats struck in his name during 1717–18 reflect the stripped-down fiscal priorities of a king who famously melted down silver furniture to pay his army. Prussia's gold coinage of this period was minted in extremely limited quantities — the king distrusted gold as a medium of domestic exchange and preferred hard thaler silver for internal commerce. Ducats served almost exclusively as diplomatic gifts and military payments to foreign contractors.
KM#162 is known with minor die variations across the two-year span of issue.
Frederick William I had little patience for the ceremonial excesses of his father's court, and the ducats struck in his name during 1717–18 reflect the stripped-down fiscal priorities of a king who famously melted down silver furniture to pay his army. Prussia's gold coinage of this period was minted in extremely limited quantities — the king distrusted gold as a medium of domestic exchange and preferred hard thaler silver for internal commerce. Ducats served almost exclusively as diplomatic gifts and military payments to foreign contractors.
KM#162 is known with minor die variations across the two-year span of issue.