2 Ducats

Zürich's ducat coinage of the early seventeenth century was issued under the authority of the city council at a moment when the Swiss Confederation's neutrality was being tested by the opening phases of the Thirty Years' War. The city mint struck gold primarily for mercantile settlement and cross-border trade, not domestic retail circulation — which explains why survivors tend to appear in better condition than their age suggests.

The .986 fineness held to a standard slightly above the Venetian ducat, a deliberate policy choice that gave Zürich's gold a competitive edge in northern Italian trade circuits.