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 - Frederick William
| Issuer | Brandenburg-Prussia, State of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1641-1643 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | KM#199 , Schr#2155b , Fr#2247 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | At center, the Brandenburg scepter arms are superimposed upon a large, elaborately rendered Tudor-style rose in full bloom, its layered petals depicted with considerable relief and artistic refinement. Surrounding the central rose, enclosed within a rope-twisted border, is a ring of twenty-three small circular cartouches, each containing a distinct heraldic shield representing the various territories and dignities of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The outer border of the coin is plain, with no additional legend, the entire reverse design functioning as an ornate armorial composition without inscriptions. |
| 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 |
Frederick William — the future "Great Elector" — was barely into his reign when these ducats were struck, having inherited Brandenburg-Prussia in 1640 at age twenty amid the grinding final years of the Thirty Years' War. Much of his territory was under Swedish or Imperial occupation, and his financial authority was precarious enough that gold coinage of this period served as much as diplomatic currency as domestic tender.
The Friedberg reference places this among the rarest Brandenburg ducats of the mid-seventeenth century. Few survive outside major institutional collections.