Ducat

Bern's ducats of this period were struck to the long-established Venetian ducat standard, allowing them to circulate freely across much of continental Europe without discount. The Republic maintained its gold coinage with unusual consistency throughout the eighteenth century, a reflection of Bern's position as the wealthiest of the Swiss cantons — its treasury funded in large part by the export of mercenary soldiers to foreign crowns.

The 1772 date places this piece just over two decades before the French invasion of 1798 that dissolved the Republic entirely, with Bern's famous treasury seized by Napoleon's forces to help finance the Egyptian campaign.