Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Ducat 'Rheingold-Dukat' - Emmerich Joseph of Breidbach-Bürresheim
| Issuer | Archbishopric of Mainz |
|---|---|
| Year | 1772 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.49 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse features a bold, centrally placed two-line inscription reading AURUM RHENI (Gold of the Rhine) in large Roman capital letters, occupying most of the field. Below, the date is rendered in archaic Roman numeral notation as CIOIOCCCLXXII, followed by the initials D. F. (de Fluss, referring to the Rhine River gold). A small decorative rosette or flower ornament appears above the main legend at the top of the field. The entire design is set within the coin's reeded border, with the plain field lending a stark, monumental character to the typographic composition. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach-Bürresheim commissioned this so-called Rheingold-Dukat from gold panned directly from the Rhine — a practice the Mainz archbishops maintained as both a genuine metallurgical source and a pointed assertion of territorial rights over the river. The Rheingold designation is not decorative; it distinguishes these pieces from standard ducats and reflects a documented procurement tradition tied to the electoral dignity of Mainz.
Emmerich Joseph died in 1774, making 1772 issues from relatively late in his tenure. He was among the more reform-minded of the late imperial prince-bishops, corresponding with Enlightenment figures and loosening some ecclesiastical restrictions in his territories.