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5 Ducats - Joseph Benedict von Rost
| Issuer | Bishopric of Chur (Grisons) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1749 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 17.5 g |
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|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | IOS : BENED : D : G : EPISCOPUS · CURIENSIS · S : R : I : PRINC : · I · HAAG · |
| Reverse description | The bishop's personal arms displayed on an elaborately ornamented oval shield set within a Rococo cartouche, flanked by a crosier and a sword crossed behind the shield, symbolising his dual spiritual and temporal authority. Above the shield rises a pontifical galero with intricately knotted and tasselled cordons cascading on either side in the manner customary for a prince-bishop. The surrounding Latin legend, split by the date 17–49 in the lower field, records the bishop's baronial titles. The reverse composition reflects the high Rococo aesthetic prevalent in mid-eighteenth-century Swiss ecclesiastical coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Joseph Benedict von Rost served as Prince-Bishop of Chur from 1728 until his death in 1754, presiding over one of the smallest and most geographically isolated ecclesiastical principalities in the Holy Roman Empire. The Bishopric's mint output was sporadic and demand-driven — large gold multiples like this five-ducat piece were struck primarily for presentation and diplomatic purposes rather than any meaningful circulation role. Von Rost's tenure coincided with ongoing jurisdictional friction between the bishop's temporal authority and the largely Protestant Graubünden diet, a tension that made conspicuous gold coinage a statement of sovereign standing as much as anything else.