Freising's bishopric coinage is frequently overshadowed by larger Bavarian ecclesiastical issues, but the see itself was among the oldest in German-speaking lands — its foundation traditionally dated to around 739 AD under Saint Corbinian. John Francis von Eckher zu Kapfing und Liechtenau, who held the see from 1696 to 1727, was an aggressive patron of Baroque architecture and scholarship, and his coinage program reflected that ambition. The two-ducat denomination was never a circulation piece; it functioned as a presentation coin, distributed at episcopal ceremonies and diplomatic occasions.
KM#20 is rare in any condition. Freising's independent coining rights were extinguished with secularization in 1803.
Freising's bishopric coinage is frequently overshadowed by larger Bavarian ecclesiastical issues, but the see itself was among the oldest in German-speaking lands — its foundation traditionally dated to around 739 AD under Saint Corbinian. John Francis von Eckher zu Kapfing und Liechtenau, who held the see from 1696 to 1727, was an aggressive patron of Baroque architecture and scholarship, and his coinage program reflected that ambition. The two-ducat denomination was never a circulation piece; it functioned as a presentation coin, distributed at episcopal ceremonies and diplomatic occasions.
KM#20 is rare in any condition. Freising's independent coining rights were extinguished with secularization in 1803.