10 Ducats - Marquard Sebastian Schenk of Stauffenberg

Marquard Sebastian Schenk von Stauffenberg ruled the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg for less than four years, from 1683 until his death in 1693, and multiple-ducat presentation pieces from his reign are survivors of court ceremony rather than commerce. These heavy gold strikings were produced for diplomatic gifts and chapter distributions — they circulated among princes, not pockets. The Stauffenberg family itself was Swabian imperial nobility, and his elevation to the Bamberg see reflected the dense interplay of aristocratic patronage and ecclesiastical appointment that defined the Holy Roman Church in the late seventeenth century.

Fr#168 is among the rarest listings in Friedberg's gold coinage of the world for the Franconian bishoprics.