1765 / Karlsburg
Bust of emperor with laurel wreath. Below „O“.
Crowned, double-headed, imperial eagle .
Franz I., emperor of the Holy Roman Empire since 1745, died suddenly on the 18th of August 1765 in consequence of a stroke. The sign “O” below the bust has not been documented before on ducats of Franz I. and could be an abbreviation for the latin expression “Obiit”, meaning “He has died”.
The unexpected death of the emperor resulted in a distinctive cut within the reign of his wife Maria Theresia, who actually managed the state affairs. The cooperation with the son, who succeeded his father as emperor Joseph II., was by far not as harmonious as before with the truly beloved husband.
Several mints, including Karlsburg in Transylvania, had already produced dies for ducats of the year 1765 and have made use of them. Possibly the adding of an “O” below the bust of this ducat represents a spontaneous reaction to the bereavement in the imperial house. The production of a new die commemorating the emperor’s death would have been laborious and time-consuming. The additional cutting of a sign into an already existing die, however, was quickly to be effected. A further particularity of this ducat’s reverse are the dots behind the letters C and A designating the mint. They could be interpreted as a supplemental measure in order to identify this special edition.
Probably a series production of this variant never came into being and this coin is a specimen, since the original project has been cancelled.
Offered by Solidus Numismatik as lot 334 in online auction 3 in September 2014.
3,57 g / diameter 21 mm