2 Ducats - John George I Centenary of the Reformation

The centenary of Luther's posting of the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 prompted a wave of commemorative coinage across Lutheran German principalities, and Saxony — as the electoral territory most directly tied to the Reformation's origins — issued some of the most politically charged pieces of the lot. John George I had only assumed the electorship the previous year and used the occasion aggressively, positioning himself as the foremost Protestant prince in the Empire at a moment when confessional tensions were approaching the breaking point. The Thirty Years' War began the following year.

Frederician Saxony's mint output for this centenary series spanned multiple denominations and metals, making die marriages across the gold issues worth scrutiny against the Slg. Whiting census.