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6 Ducats

Issuer City of Basel
Year 1700-1710
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Value 6 Ducats (48)
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Reverse description Full-length standing figure of Lucius Munatius Plancus, the Roman general and founder of Colonia Raurica (ancient Basel), depicted in classical Roman military attire including a plumed helmet, muscled cuirass, and pteruges, facing left on a decorated pedestal. His right arm is raised, and his left hand rests on a large oval shield prominently inscribed SPQR. The surrounding Latin legend, separated by stops, commemorates Plancus as the founder of the Rauric colony, all within a milled border.
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Edge Reeded
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Basel's multi-ducat issues of this period were civic prestige pieces rather than trade currency, struck in small quantities for presentation to visiting dignitaries, city officials, and diplomatic delegations. The city-republic jealously guarded its minting privileges well into the early eighteenth century, and issues like this one reflect Basel's determination to project independent municipal authority during a period when Swiss confederate politics were increasingly consolidating around cantonal rather than urban identities.

Freudenberg 74 is among the rarer Basel gold multiples, with surviving examples traceable to a handful of major auction appearances over the past four decades.

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