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20 Ducats - Charles Albert
| Issuer | Bavaria, Electorate of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1739 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Ducats (20 Dukaten) (70) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Armored and draped bust of Elector Charles Albert facing right, wearing a cuirass adorned with the Order of the Golden Fleece at the neck, with long flowing wig rendered in high relief. The encircling Latin legend reads CAR ALB D G V B & P S D C P R S R I A & E L T, abbreviating his full electoral and imperial titles. The engraver's signature SCHEGA appears in small letters below the truncation of the bust. The portrait is executed in a grand Baroque style with exceptional sculptural depth and fine detail throughout the hair and armor. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The 20-ducat denomination was essentially a presentation piece — struck not for commerce but for diplomatic gift-giving and court ceremony, a practice the Wittelsbachs maintained with particular enthusiasm throughout the eighteenth century. Charles Albert was at this moment consumed by his ultimately ruinous bid for the Imperial crown, a campaign that would briefly make him Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII in 1742 before Austro-Hungarian forces occupied Munich and effectively ended Bavarian ambitions. Coins of this weight and fineness were currency of a different kind: tools of alliance-building at a court perpetually short of the military resources to back its political pretensions.
The Fr#227a designation distinguishes this from the more common single-strike 20-ducat issues of the same year.