2 Ducats - Thomas I

Haldenstein was among the smallest sovereign entities in the Holy Roman Empire ever to exercise minting rights — a lordship of a few square kilometers wedged between the Grisons leagues and the Rhine valley. Thomas I of Hohenems acquired the lordship in 1613 and struck gold almost immediately, a move as much about asserting dynastic status as meeting any commercial demand. The output was tiny; Fr#268 records no significant mintage figures because there likely weren't any worth recording.

The Hohenems family connection to Habsburg patronage made these emissions politically legible even if economically marginal. Gold ducats from micro-lordships of this period survive almost exclusively in cabinet condition — they were presentation pieces from the start.