2 Ducats 'the Christmas Ducat'

Basel's municipal gold issues of the late seventeenth century served a specific civic function: presentation pieces distributed by the city council to dignitaries, foreign envoys, and favored citizens during the Christmas season — hence the enduring nickname. These were not minted for commerce. Fr#85 is documented across a date range rather than a single year precisely because the dies were reused across multiple holiday distributions, with the council ordering strikes as political occasion demanded rather than on any fixed schedule.