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!
10 Ducats - Albert of Wallenstein
| Issuer | Friedland, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1628 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Ducats (20) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| 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 | A large heraldic shield bearing a double-headed imperial eagle with an inescutcheon on its breast, surmounted by a princely crown, all centered within a beaded inner circle. The shield is rendered in high relief with fine engraved detail on the eagle's plumage and the quartered inescutcheon. A corded rope border separates the central device from the circumferential Latin legend in the outer field, which proclaims Wallenstein's dignity as Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. |
| 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 |
Albrecht von Wallenstein struck these large gold multiples from the Duchy of Friedland — a territory the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II had essentially invented for him as payment for his extraordinary military services during the Thirty Years' War. By 1628, Wallenstein commanded an army of nearly 100,000 men, largely self-financed, and operated his duchy as a near-sovereign economic engine. Issuing high-denomination gold coinage was a calculated assertion of that quasi-independent status.
Four years later, Ferdinand dismissed him under pressure from the Imperial princes who feared exactly this kind of ambition. Wallenstein was assassinated in Eger in February 1634.