4 Ducats

Bern struck four-ducat pieces in this period primarily for presentation and trade purposes rather than everyday exchange — the denomination was simply too valuable for ordinary commerce in a Swiss canton still operating largely on a bimetallic silver and small coin economy. The 1825 issue falls within Bern's final decades as a sovereign cantonal power before the federal reorganization of 1848 fundamentally restructured Swiss monetary authority.

The .986 fineness follows the traditional ducat standard maintained across European trade coinage since the medieval period, allowing these pieces to circulate internationally by weight and purity rather than by any local monetary convention.