1 Pfennig - John George IV Gold pattern strike

John George IV ruled Saxony for less than three years before dying of smallpox in April 1694 — almost certainly contracted from his mistress Magdalena Sibylla von Neidschutz, who had died of the same illness weeks earlier. The electoral court was in acute political disarray at the moment this pattern was struck. Gold Pfennig patterns from this period were produced as presentation pieces or cabinet specimens, not for monetary use, and the 1694 date places this piece in the final months of his reign.

Clauss and Kahnt's reference remains the authoritative citation for Saxon pattern coinage of this type.