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!
2 Ducats - Charles Theodor
| Issuer | Bavaria, Electorate of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1787 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Milled |
| 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 | Crowned oval shield bearing the combined arms of the Palatinate-Bavaria, displaying the Bavarian lozengy field and the Palatinate lion passant, all within an ornate laurel and palm spray wreath tied at the base. An electoral bonnet surmounts the shield. The date 1787 is divided across the lower field flanking the base of the wreath, and the denomination numeral (2) appears in parentheses at the bottom centre below the wreath. The surrounding Latin legend S.R.I.ARCHID.&.EL.DVX.I.CL.&.M. records Charles Theodore's titles as Arch-Steward of the Holy Roman Empire, Elector, and Duke of Jülich, Cleves and Berg. |
| 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 |
Charles Theodor inherited Bavaria in 1777 through the extinction of the Wittelsbach-Sulzbach line, a succession so politically inconvenient that Frederick the Great went to war over it — the brief War of the Bavarian Succession ended in 1779 with the Treaty of Teschen, leaving Charles Theodor's claim intact but stripping him of a portion of the Lower Bavarian territories he had hoped to consolidate. He never much wanted Bavaria in the first place, preferring his Palatine holdings, and his reign was marked by chronic unpopularity with Bavarian subjects who saw him as an absentee administrator.
The 1787 two-ducat issue falls within a narrow window of relatively stable court expenditure before Joseph II's renewed pressure on Charles Theodor to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands — a scheme that ultimately collapsed a second time.