20 Kreuzers - Sigismund von Schrattenbach

This 20 Kreuzer coin was struck in 1767 under the authority of Sigismund von Schrattenbach, who served as the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1753 until his death in 1771. During this period, the Archbishopric functioned as an independent ecclesiastical state within the Holy Roman Empire, maintaining its own currency system. These silver issues were intended for circulation within the Archbishopric’s territory to facilitate trade and reflect the authority of the ruling prelate.

The design follows the traditional numismatic standards of the era, featuring the coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Salzburg on the obverse and the portrait of the Virgin Mary, patron saint of the Salzburg Cathedral, on the reverse. This religious iconography was typical of ecclesiastical coinage, signaling both the political stature and the spiritual devotion of the issuing prince. Such coins remain significant today as tactile records of the complex political structure of eighteenth-century Central Europe.