2 Ducats - Christian V

Christian V had been on the throne barely a decade when this piece was struck, still consolidating the absolute monarchy his father Frederik III had seized from the nobility in the coup-by-constitution of 1660. The 1679 date places this coin in the immediate aftermath of the Scanian War, during which Denmark fought Sweden with French backing — and then watched Louis XIV force a humiliating peace at Fontainebleau, compelling Christian to return all conquered Swedish territories despite having won on the battlefield.

Fontainebleau left the Danish treasury strained and the king furious. Gold multiples of this period were almost certainly struck for presentation or diplomatic purposes rather than circulation.