1915 Austrian 4 Ducat Re-strike Gold Coin

1915 Austrian Four Ducat Gold Coin. 

All 1915 four ducat coins are restrikes. As with the original 4 Ducat coins, these coins have a purity of 23.75 carat gold - the highest purity for a gold coin that was issued for circulation.

The coins have a diameter of 40mm and each coin contains 0.4430 troy ounces of gold. As the coins have inherited their design and appearance from medieval gold coins, they are very thin compared with modern coins, at just 0.7mm's thick. 

To this day ducat coins dated 1915 are produced by the Austrian Mint as official restrikes.

The Ducat

Ducats were gold coins, and also units of account, formerly used in most European countries; including Holland, Russia, Austria, and Sweden. The value of a ducat was generally about 9s. 4d, that is nine shillings and fourpence.

There was also an Italian ducat silver coin , value about 3s. 6d.

According to The Oxford English Dictionary, the first Ducat was a silver coin issued in 1140 by Roger II of Sicily, as Duke of Apulia.

In 1284, the first gold ducat, also called a zecchino (from which we get the word sequin) d'oro, was struck at Venice under the doge John Dandolo. This coin, worth about 9s., bears on one side figures of St. Mark and the Doge, and on the other a figure of Christ with the legend 'Sit tibi Christe datus quem tu regis iste ducatus'; this, though it did not originate, may have contributed to spread the name, which was subsequently applied to the gold coins of various European countries. 

Austrian 1915 Four Ducats

Ducats were issued by Austria in 1612, and probably earlier. The last regular issue of ducats was in 1914. All the 4 ducats dated 1915 are restrikes, of which there were 496,501 struck between 1920 and 1936. Four ducat coins dated 1915 are still being produced by the Austrian Mint as official restrikes.

An Austrian Tradition

There is some tradition in Austria for issuing commemorative coins posthumously. After the death of Francis I in 1765, his widow, Maria Theresa, decreed on the 21st July 1766, that coins would be issued bearing the portrait of Francis I, and the date of his death. Alphabetical mintmarks were to be used to denote the actual year of issue, with A = 1766. The posthumous coins were issued erratically.

Also after the death of Maria Theresia in 1780, the very famous Maria Theresa Thaler continued to be issued bearing her portrait and the date 1780.

The laureate head, facing right, of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

FRANC IOS I D G AUSTRIAE IMPERATOR

The arms of Austria superimposed upon a crowned double-headed Imperial eagle.

HUNGAR BOHEM GAL LOD ILL REX A A 1915