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Austrian gold ducat depicting Kaiser Franz-Josef, c. 1910. The ducat (/ ˈ d ʌ k ə t /) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around 3.5 grams (0.11 troy ounces) of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide international acceptance over the centuries.
Initially called "ducat" (ducato), for the ruling Doge of Venice who was prominently depicted on it, it was called the zecchino, after the Zecca of Venice, since 1543 when Venice began minting a silver coin also called a ducat. The name of the mint ultimately derives from Arabic: سكّة (sikka), meaning a coin mould or die.
The ducat was the main currency of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies between 1816 and 1860. When the Congress of Vienna created the kingdom merging the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, the ducat became at par a continuation of the Neapolitan ducat and the Sicilian piastra issued prior to 1816, although the Sicilian piastra had been subdivided into 240 grana.
The ducat proper was the name of the gold coins, and curiously it did not exist as a single unit; the grana (singular: grano) was the name of the silver coins, itself also not existing as a single unit; the tornesel (Italian: tornese) was the name of the copper coins, which were worth half a grana. Accounts were kept in ducats, each of 100 ...
Main building The last ducat minted in Kremnica for circulation (obverse, 1881). 10 krajczár minted during the revolution (obverse, 1848).. The Kremnica Mint (Slovak: Mincovňa Kremnica, Hungarian: Körmöcbányai pénzverde) is one of the oldest mints in the world established in 1328 by the King Charles Robert of Anjou, situated in Kremnica, Slovakia.
In 1284, Venice followed by example; these coins are known as ducats (from the 16th century, they became known as the sequin). They first weighed a little more than florins, but shortly after became equal to them. Soon, the name "ducat" was well established all over Europe as a synonym for a high-quality gold coin weighing about 3.5 grams.
The name Löser most likely was derived from a large gold coin minted in Hamburg called the portugalöser, worth 10 ducats, which were based on Portuguese 10-ducat coins. [3] Eventually the term was applied to numerous similar coins worth more than a single thaler. These coins are very rare and highly sought after by collectors.
The first ducaton-type coin was the scudo known as the 'ducatone da soldi cento' (of 100 soldo), issued by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in Milan in 1551.Ducatones were produced in greater numbers in numerous Italian states through the 17th century, spreading to other parts of the Spanish Empire, including Burgundy and the Netherlands - in 1618 the ducaton was produced in Brabant and Tournai ...