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1 Groschen - Bernhard II
| Issuer | Saxe-Jena, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1678 |
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| Reference(s) | KM#18, Slg. Merse#4137 |
| Obverse description | Central oval shield bearing the quartered arms of Saxony — horizontally striped with a diagonal rautenkranz (rue crown) overlay — set within an elaborate baroque cartouche flanked by symmetrical foliate scrollwork. The shield is surmounted by a ducal crown rendered in high relief. The circumferential legend in Latin capital letters runs around the entire field, separated from the inner device by a beaded inner border. |
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| Reverse description | The entire reverse field is occupied by a seven-line commemorative inscription in bold Latin capital letters, filling the coin from rim to rim without any central device. The text records the birth and death dates of Duke Bernhard II, with the year 1678 prominently placed in the final line. The lettering is deeply struck in an archaic serif style characteristic of late 17th-century German funerary coinage, and a small lozenge stop closes the inscription at the lower right. |
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| Additional information |
Saxe-Jena was among the most short-lived of the Ernestine Saxon partition duchies, existing only from 1672 until 1690 when the line died out with Bernhard II himself — making the entire coinage of this duchy an eighteen-year window. Bernhard inherited a territory so small and financially marginal that its independent mint output was limited by practical necessity rather than policy.
The Slg. Merseburg reference places this among a well-documented but genuinely scarce series. Few Ernestine minor duchy issues circulated far beyond their own borders.