Catalog
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| Issuer | Prince-Bishopric of Liège |
|---|---|
| Year | 1744-1746 |
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| Value | 1 Liard (1⁄80) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central shield bearing the quartered arms of Bavaria-Palatinate, surmounted by an ecclesiastical electoral cap (Kurhutkrone). The shield is placed over crossed insignia of episcopal authority: a crozier and a sword in saltire. The encircling Latin legend identifies the issuer as John Theodore, by the grace of God Duke of Bavaria. The overall design is characteristic of late Baroque heraldic coinage of the German ecclesiastical principalities. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Five heraldic shields arranged in cruciform pattern around the central arms of Liège, the latter topped with the electoral cap. The arms of Looz appear at the top, Franchimont to the right, Hornes at the bottom, and Bouillon to the left. The four-digit date is distributed in the angles between the shields, reading 1744 in the earliest issues. The encircling Latin legend enumerates the bishop's titles as Prince-Bishop of Liège, Duke of Bouillon, Marquis of Franchimont, and Count of Looz and Hornes. |
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| Additional information |
John Theodore of Bavaria held the see of Liège through court politics rather than ecclesiastical distinction — he was appointed at the insistence of the Wittelsbachs, who treated the Prince-Bishopric as a family benefice. His first period of rule ran until imperial complications temporarily displaced him. The liard was the smallest practical copper denomination in circulation across the Austrian Netherlands, and Liège's independent mint output during the 1740s sat awkwardly alongside Habsburg monetary pressures following the War of Austrian Succession. Dengis 1162 distinguishes this date-reverse variety from the otherwise nearly identical second-period issues, a separation that matters more to type collectors than it first appears.