1 Ducat - John George II Vicariat

John George II struck this ducat in his capacity as Imperial Vicar — the office assumed by the Saxon Elector to govern the Holy Roman Empire during an interregnum. The 1657 vicariat followed the death of Ferdinand III in April of that year, with the electoral college taking months to settle on Leopold I as his successor. During that gap, Saxony and the Rhenish Palatinate jointly held vicarial authority over their respective jurisdictions, and both exercised the traditional right to mint coins as a visible assertion of that temporary sovereignty.

Vicariat issues were produced in limited quantities and often distributed as presentation pieces rather than circulated currency, which partly explains survival rates in better grades.