20 Kreuzer

1848, Hungary, Ferdinand I. Beautiful Silver 20 Krajczar Coin. KM-422. NGC MS63!

Mint Year: 1848
Reference: KM-422.
Mint Place: Kremnitz (B)
Denomination: 20 Krajczar (20 Kreuzer)
Condition: Certified and graded by NGC as MS-63!
Material: Silver (.583)
Diameter: 26mm
Weight: 6.68gm

Obverse: Laureate head of Ferdinand I right.
Legend: FERD . I . D . G . AVSTR . IMP . HVNG . BOH . R . H . N . V . / B

Reverse: Crowned and nimbate Virgin Mary (Madonna), holding scepter, orb and child, seated in clouds and stepped on crescent below.
Legend: S . MARIA MATER DEI . (20)  PATRONA . HVNG . 1848 . 

Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia (April 19, 1793 - June 29, 1875) succeeded his father (Franz II Holy Roman Emperor/Franz I of Austria) as emperor and king (as Ferdinand V) in 1835. He chose to abdicate, after a series of revolts in 1848. He was also King of Lombardy-Venetia.

Ferdinand has been depicted as feeble-minded and       incapable of ruling, but although he was epileptic and certainly not       intelligent, he kept a coherent and legible diary and has even been   said     to have a sharp wit. The up to twenty seizures he had per day,     though,   severely restricted his ability to rule with any     effectiveness.

Though he was not declared incapacitated, a regent's       council (Archduke Luis, Count Kolowrat and Prince Metternich)   steered     the government. His marriage to Princess Maria Anna of   Sardinia     (1803-1884) was probably never consummated, nor is he   believed to have     had any other liaisons. He is famous for his one   coherent command: when     his cook told him he could not have apricot   dumplings because they   were   out of season, he said: â€Å"I'm the Emperor, and I want dumplings!"

As the revolutionaries of 1848 were marching on the       palace, he is supposed to have asked Metternich for an explanation.     When   Metternich answered that they were making a revolution,   Ferdinand   is   supposed to have said "But are they allowed to do   that?" (Viennese     German: Ja, duerfen's denn des?) He was   convinced by Felix   zu   Schwarzenberg to abdicate in favour of his   nephew, Franz Joseph   (the   next in line was Ferdinand's younger   brother Franz Karl, but he   was   persuaded to waive his succession   rights in favour of his son) who   would   occupy the Austrian throne   for the next sixty-eight years.

Ferdinand recorded the events in his diary : "The       affair ended with the new Emperor kneeling before his old Emperor and       Lord, that is to say, me, and asking for a blessing, which I gave   him,     laying both hands on his head and making the sign of the Holy   Cross ...     then I embraced him and kissed our new master, and then we   went to   our   room. Afterward I and my dear wife heard Holy Mass ...   After that I   and   my dear wife packed our bags"

Ferdinand was the last King of Bohemia to be crowned       as such. Due to his sympathy with Bohemia (where he spent the rest   of     his life in Prague Castle) he was given the Czech nickname "Ferdinand V, the Good". In Austria, Ferdinand was similarly nicknamed (Ferdinand the Benign), but also ridiculed as (Goodinand the Finished).

He is interred in tomb number 62 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.