Hambourg (ville impériale de). Portugalöser de 10 ducats, à l’unité des quatre grandes villes bancaires d’Europe (Amsterdam, Hambourg, Nuremberg et Venise), par J. Reteke, d’aspect Flan bruni (PROOFLIKE) 1677, Hambourg.

GERMANY Hamburg (imperial city of). Portugalöser of 10 ducats, to the unity of the four major banking cities of Europe (Amsterdam, Hamburg, Nuremberg and Venice), by J. Reteke, prooflike, 1677, Hamburg.
Obv. QUATUOR HIS SIGNIS PYRAMIS AUCTA DOCET. Under God’s name, a view of Hamburg and its port with boats. In the foreground, on the left, Abundance with a cornucopia, under an arm emerging from the clouds and crowning it. On the right, a pyramid on an altar, decorated with armorial shields, surmounted by an angel blowing a trumpet; below HAMBURG.
Rev. QUID PRUDENS CONCORS VIGILANS SOLLERTIA PRÆSTET. Facing allegories of Prudence, Concord and Vigilance, with their own attributes ; above radiating triangle ; below (date).
Gaedechens 1609 - Geschichte in Gold 88; Gold - 34.8g - 49 mm - 12 h.
NGC MS 61 PL. Prooflike with very detached reliefs from the mirror fields. Beautifully fresh, with its mint lustre, barely burnished with micro-marks in the fields and a few micro-scratches explaining this pretty severe technical grade. Uncirculated.

The portugalöser, worth 10 gold ducats, comes from the large portuguese cruzados which were circulating a lot in Germany. The State was the only one authorized to strike coins, so banks for example in Hamburg, issued these portugalöser as medals, but with a monetary value (with very precise weights). Those portugalöser were used to transfer money, particularly between the cities of the Hanseatic League.