4 Ducats - Markus Sittikus von Hohenems

Markus Sittikus von Hohenems secured the Salzburg archbishopric in 1612 partly through the influence of his uncle, Cardinal Mark Sittich of Hohenems, and lost no time commissioning ambitious coinage to signal his authority. His reign is better remembered for founding Hellbrunn Palace and importing Italian baroque taste into the Alpine ecclesiastical world than for monetary policy — but his gold multiples are among the more aggressively struck of the early Salzburg series.

The Fr#715 designation places this among the rarer Salzburg gold issues, with surviving examples scattered thinly across European auction records.