bavarikon4UDescription
Obverse: The elector stands upright in full armour, rests his right hand on his baton de command, while the left hand touches the imperial orb that lies on a pedestal.
Reverse: Cityscape of Munich with the new fortification works in the foreground. Above, the Madonna floats between two angels above some clouds.
The representative 5-ducat piece of Maximilian I could also be termed a commemorative medium. It is a coin but also a medal-type bearer of information. In the early modern period, such large-format multiples of a ducat were often given as presents to high-ranking guests or to people of outstanding merit from Bavaria. The piece shown here is rather special in Bavarian numismatics, since the reverse shows the city of Munich with the new city fortifications, which were erected on commission of Elector Maximilian I. Such depictions of fortifications or memorial minting on the renewal of fortifications are otherwise almost unknown in the Duchy of Bavaria.