Ducat

Bern struck ducats consistently through the eighteenth century as a trade and diplomatic currency, the gold content held deliberately close to Venetian and Dutch standards to ensure acceptance across European markets. By 1794, the city-state was one of the wealthiest polities in Europe relative to its size, its finances built on mercenary contracts and land revenues — a position that would collapse entirely five years later when French forces occupied the city and seized the treasury in February 1798.

The HMZ suffix 'h' indicates a specific die variety within the 1794 emission, distinguished in Hürlimann-Maier-Zimmermann by minor legend or privy mark differences from earlier strikes of the same type.