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It was the "foreign king" John of Luxembourg who introduced a coinage metal other than silver and gold into our monetary and coinage system in 1325, for the first time north of the Alps. At that time, again with the help of Wallachian coiners, he began minting the oldest Czech ducats in Prague, completely based on the pattern of the northern Italian city of Florence. They also copied the images exactly from the mints of the native city of the florin, indicating only the name of the monarch's provenance of the coin, as was done by several countries and states. On the obverse they placed a perfect picture of the heraldic lily in the whole field, before the Descriptions a crown was given.
Descriptions lOh'ES | R'BOEM'
The outer circle is made of chopped pearls.
golden 21mm 3.49g
NATIONAL MUSEUM COLLECTION.
Even the image on the reverse of John of Luxembourg's ducat, the same as his Descriptions, is completely taken from the florin of the city of Florence. Only a small Czech lion on the upper right shows where the homeland of this coin is, bearing the image of the Florentine patron saint, St. John the Baptist. The saint is depicted in a frontal view in a short tunic and a fur cloak. He has long hair and a beard, a halo of pearls, and holds a staff with a cross in his left hand. The right hand is raised in a blessing gesture.
To the right of the saint's head is the symbol of the Bohemian kingdom, the heraldic Bohemian lion, whose mane is represented by a row of five crescent moons.
Descriptions • S • IOHA ) NNES . B
In a beaded, open inner circle at the bottom, a half figure V of Charles IV. A young face with a short beard is framed by long, wavy hair. The right hand lightly holds a scepter, the left, slightly raised, holds an imperial apple with a cross. The king is dressed in a close-fitting robe with soft pleats and a cloak with a richly decorated border, fastened on the breast with a large clasp. This is the figure of the young Charles IV. before the Roman coronation, after which his face changes to an older one on later ducats. The creator of this coin is unknown.
Descriptions + KAROLVS g D El g G RACI A The outer circle is made of pearls
gold. 21mm 3.52g NATIONAL MUSEUM COLLECTION.
In a beaded inner circle open at the bottom, a half figure of Charles IV. The moustached and bearded elderly face, framed by a rich head of hair, has familiar but more smiling features than are preserved by contemporary monuments in painting or sculpture. The crown on the head, interrupting the inner circle and Descriptions at the top, is already imperial. We can therefore date the ducat to the years 1355-1378. Karlov's right hand lightly holds a scepter, his left an imperial apple. The emperor is dressed in a looser undergarment and a cloak that is almost closed, fastened with a large buckle.
Descriptions KAROLVS or D El or GRACIA
The outer circle is made of pearls.
gold. 22 mm 3.482 g NATIONAL MUSEUM COLLECTION.
In a rope-like, several times interrupted circle, the figure of St. Wenceslas in a rich, late Renaissance decoration. St. Václav has a ducal cap, is dressed in knight's armor and an open cloak that falls back. On his left side he has a sword, in his right he holds a banner with an eagle, with his left he leans on a shield with the same heraldic sign. It is the last image of the patron saint of the Czech land on a coin of Bohemia itself (Moravia and Silesia still returned to him).
The stamp of the ducat was engraved by Jan Konrád Greuter, iron cutter of the Prague Mint, the design was created by an unknown artist today. Image of St. Wenceslas on the reverse of the Czech ducats from 1611 and 1612 had great political significance, when otherwise since the time of Maximilian II. a commonly used emblem heraldically represented by the imperial eagle. Matyáš, who was fighting for the government with Rudolph II, apparently wanted to remind the legitimacy of his claims to the Guilds with the image of the provincial patron.
Descriptions S . VVENCESLAVS PAT. GOD
The outer ring is cord-shaped.
The representative character of the coin lasted even under the "winter" King Frederick of the Falkland. him, especially when its external appearance was entrusted to the same engraver, J. K-Greuter, who, according to court instructions, had already created images of coins of Rudolph, Matyáš and estates. That is why we meet on the obverse of the rough coins of Frederick, very rare, with the same figure of the king as on the coins of Rudolph (and later Ferdinand II), but accompanied by other symbols and descriptions. However, the legal side of the coin placed importance on depicting the symbols of all the countries of that ruler. And so, if on the obverse of the same ten-ducat the figure of Frederick has the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the coat of arms of the Palatinate on the sides, the depicted reverse of the same coin has in a rope-like inner circle the coats of arms of all five lands of the Czech crown: Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Upper and Lower Lusatia. It is the last time before the loss of both Lusatia in 1635, when the symbols of all Czech countries were combined. The coin image was engraved by JK Greuter with great care for the correct heraldic expression. The mint mark belongs to Pavlo Škrét.
Descriptions DVX BAV A • MAR • MO-DV« mintmark X • SILE . MAR • LVSA • 1620 .
The outer ring is cord-shaped.
silver. 40x41 mm 33.625 g NATIONAL MUSEUM COLLECTION.
Albrecht of Wallenstein best understood the real exchange function of the coin and the possible profit from its production among the feudal lords who, during the Thirty Years' War, boldly struck their own coinage. Nor did he in any way underestimate the effectiveness of the images on the coins that carried his portrait from hand to hand every day. He himself intervened many times in the question of the external appearance of his metal money, while he was primarily interested in the legal side of the images and Descriptions, a decent arrangement, but not at all the artistic expression of the engraver.
On the depicted reverse of the ten ducat from 1627, in a rope-like inner circle, open at the top, below the ducal hat, there is a shield with the Waldstein coat of arms, decorated on the sides with simple rollwork motifs: a crowned, right-facing eagle, which has on its breast a square label with four, two against facing lions. The tastefully edited image is probably the work of Hanuš Riegro from Wrocław, a fashionable engraver around 1630. It was minted in the Jičín mint under Mintmaster Jiří Reick, whose mark is located on the obverse.
Descriptions : SACRED • ROMAN • EMPIRE • PRINCE • 1627
The outer circle is unclear.
