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2 Thalers
| Issuer | City of Lucerne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1698 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Reverse description | Full-length frontal figure of Saint Leodegar (Léger), patron saint of Lucerne, shown in full episcopal vestments including mitre and cope, holding a crozier in his left hand and an auger — his traditional martyrdom attribute — in his right. A radiate nimbus surrounds his head. The saint stands on a plain ground line within an open field. The circular legend SANCT : LEODIGARIUS PATRON : runs around the periphery, with a milled outer border. The engraving is vigorous and characteristic of late seventeenth-century Swiss baroque coinage. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Lucerne's double thaler issues of the late seventeenth century were produced not as workhorse currency but as prestige pieces — diplomatic gifts and demonstration strikes that circulated among magistrates and foreign dignitaries far more than among merchants. The city-state jealously guarded its minting rights, one of the few urban privileges that survived the consolidating pressures of the Swiss Confederation's internal politics, and heavy silver pieces like this one were periodic reassertions of that autonomy.
The Dav. EC II attribution places it firmly within the large-crown-sized civic issues that Davenport treated as a coherent collecting category. HMZ 2-663b distinguishes this variety from the closely related 663a by die characteristics that remain the subject of ongoing specialist debate.