1 Ducato

Ragusa — modern Dubrovnik — maintained its independence for centuries through a policy of calculated neutrality, paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire while simultaneously maintaining trade privileges with Catholic Europe. The ducato was the backbone of that commercial diplomacy. This issue's unusually debased silver content (.566 fine) reflects not monetary crisis but deliberate policy: Ragusan authorities kept the coin's intrinsic value low enough to discourage melting while ensuring it circulated freely across the Adriatic trade network.

The Republic's mint ceased operations permanently in 1803, six years after French pressure effectively ended Ragusan sovereignty in 1797. Napoleon formally abolished the Republic that year.