8 Ducats

Bern struck these large gold multiples in the final years before the French invasion of February 1798, when the Helvetic Republic was imposed and the city-state's centuries-old independence was extinguished almost overnight. The timing matters: Bern's treasury was famously seized by French forces, and significant quantities of the city's gold coinage were melted or confiscated. Pieces that left Bern before the occupation survived; many that didn't, vanished into French military coffers.

The HMZ references distinguish between the 205e and 205f die pairings, suggesting at least two discrete production runs across the issue years.