2 Ducats - Charles Kaspar of the Leyen Death

Charles Kaspar von der Leyen served as Archbishop-Elector of Trier from 1652 until his death in 1676, navigating the electorate through the difficult aftermath of the Thirty Years' War. Memorial or "death ducats" of this type were struck not for circulation but as formal presentations — distributed to cathedral chapter members, court officials, and allied dynastic houses as diplomatic tokens of mourning. Surviving examples are rare precisely because they were hoarded as keepsakes rather than worn down in trade, yet attrition through melting and loss over three and a half centuries has kept populations thin.