1 Goldgulden Electorate of Bavaria (1623 - 1806) Gold Ferdinand M ...

1674, Bavaria, Ferdinand Maria. Gold Gulden Coin

Mint Year: 1674

Mint Place: Munich

Denomination: Gold Gulden (Goldgulden)

Mint-Official (die-cutter): Kaspar Zegin (C-G)
Reference: Friedberg 210, KM-325 ($950 in VF!).
Material: Gold (0.986)
Diameter: 19mm

Weight: 3.09gm

Obverse: Armored bust of Ferdinand Maria right.

Legend: F • M • V • B & P • S • D • C • P • R S • R • I • A •R & EL • L • L
 

Reverse: Madonna enthroned facing, holding baby-Jesus child and scepter behind crowned oval coat-of-arms of Bavaria. Date (16-74) and mint-official´s initials (C-Z) split at sides.
Legend: CLVPEVS OMNIBVS IN TE SPERANTIBVS = clypeus omnibus in te sperantibus ( "A shield to all who hope in thee." )

Ferdinand Maria married Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy in 1650; and with her, the Italian Baroque was introduced in Bavaria.

The Theatiner Church in Munich was built from 1663 onwards as a gesture of thanks for the birth of the long-awaited heir to the Bavarian crown, Prince Maximilian II Emanuel. After that in 1664, Ferdinand Maria and his wife commissioned the building of the Baroque style Nymphenburg Palace near Munich based on the designs of Italian architect Agostino Barelli.

Lake Starnberg was purchased by Ferdinand Maria from the Horwarth family and it became the venue of numerous festivities of the court with the famous fleet of Venetian Gondolas. On the lake’s shores, he ordered the construction of Berg Castle in 1676.

The castle was used for festivities there and later reached its zenith when it became the scene of spectacular entertainments and hunts under the rule of his successors, Maximilian Emanuel and Emperor Charles VII. For the Munich Residenz, Ferdinand Maria ordered the creation of the Papal Rooms.

Ferdinand Maria (31 October 1636 – 26 May 1679) was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an elector (Kurfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire from 1651 to 1679. The elector modernized the army and introduced Bavaria’s first government code. Besides encouraging agriculture and industry, he also improved building and restoration works on churches and monasteries since the damage caused during the Thirty Years' War.