4 Ducats - Maximilian I

Bavaria minted multi-ducat pieces in the 1640s under Maximilian I, Elector and briefly Duke, during the closing years of the Thirty Years' War — a conflict that had devastated the German states financially and physically since 1618. The Bavarian treasury was under sustained strain from war contributions and troop maintenance, making large gold emissions of this period both politically calculated and practically scarce.

Fr#197a distinguishes this from the more common 197 variety. Four-ducat pieces from this reign survive in small numbers, as most large gold issues of wartime Bavaria saw immediate hoarding or export rather than domestic circulation.