1 Ducat - Maximilian II

The Fugger banking dynasty received the right to strike coins at Babenhausen as a direct consequence of their financial entanglements with the Habsburg court — essentially a privilege extracted in partial settlement of debts the emperors could not repay in cash. By 1622, the Thirty Years' War was consuming imperial finances at a catastrophic rate, and minor lordships like Fugger-Babenhausen were among the few creditors still liquid enough to mint in gold.

This is a rare county-level ducat from a house better known for ledgers than dies. Fugger coinage in gold from this period surfaces infrequently at auction.