Bavaria 1798 ducat Fr-251
This specimen was lot 1468 in Künker Auction 425 (Osnabrück, July 2025), where it sold for €12,500 (about US$ including buyers' fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DEUTSCHE MÜNZEN UND MEDAILLEN · BAYERN, SEIT 1623 KURFÜRSTENTUM, SEIT 1806 KÖNIGREICH Karl Theodor, 1777-1799. Dukat 1798, München. Inngold. CAR · THEODOR · D · G · C · P · R · V · B · D · S · R · I · A · & EL · D · I · C · & · M · Büste r. mit zusammengebundenen Haaren//EX AURO OENI · Der Flußgott lagert nach r. und entleert mit der Rechten eine Wasserurne, mit der Linken hält er das dreifeldige pfalz-bayerische Wappen, im Abschnitt die römische Jahreszahl MDCCXCVIII. GOLD. Äußerst seltener Jahrgang. Kl. Randfehler, vorzüglich-Stempelglanz. Exemplar der Auktion Leu 78, Zürich 2000, Nr. 411. (Germany, electorate of Bavaria, Charles Theodore, 1777-99, ducat of 1798, Munich mint, gold from the Inn river. Obverse: bust right, hair tied with a ribbon, reverse: the Danube river god, seated right, pours water from an urn, Roman numeral date below. Extremely rare, some edge defects, extremely fine to uncirculated.)
Bereits seit dem 8. Jahrhundert befanden sich am Inn zwischen Rosenheim und Passau Goldwäschen. Im 18. Jahrhundert waren etwa 30 Waschorte bekannt, von denen die meisten am linken Flußufer lagen. Es gehörte zur Selbstdarstellung der deutschen Fürsten, in deren Flüssen Gold gewaschen wurde, diese Tatsache auf repräsentativen Flußgoldprägungen hervorzuheben. (Gold panning operations had existed on the Inn River between Rosenheim and Passau since the 8th century. In the 18th century, approximately 30 panning sites were known, most of which were located on the left bank. It was part of the self-presentation of the German princes, in whose rivers gold was panned, to emphasize this fact on various river gold coins.)"
The elector took the trouble in 1798 to mint ducats celebrating gold from the Danube (Fr-250) and the Isar (Fr-252) as well as the Inn. Inn river ducats were previously struck in 1779-80 and 1793. River panning was never very productive, so the mintages are low. The enterprise was abandoned altogether in the mid-nineteenth century.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.49 g, 0.937 fine gold, this specimen 3,47 g.
Catalog reference: KM 573, Fr-251; Hahn 354.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 425: Gold coins from the Medieval and Modern Times, from the Mohr family collection, e.g. | Silver coins, e.g. highlights of medallic art | German coins after 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2025.
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