2 Ducats - Ferdinand III Vienna

Ferdinand III's reign coincided with the grinding final decade of the Thirty Years' War, ended by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 — a settlement he negotiated personally and at considerable cost to Habsburg authority over the German princes. Gold multiples from Vienna during these years were struck primarily as presentation and diplomatic pieces rather than commercial currency, distributed at court as gifts and used to pay mercenary commanders whose loyalty was purchased rather than assumed.

Fr#231 is among the scarcer Fugger-era survivals; most extant examples trace to old European cabinet collections rather than circulation finds.