(sold for $157.0)

1696, Liege, Joseph Clemens of Bavaria. Silver Patagon Coin. Rare Key-Date!

Mint Years: 1696
Denomination: Paragon
Mint Place: Bishopric of Liége (Belgium)
References: Davenport 4303, KM-112.1. ($500 for an F of a common date, here the only date without valuation, simply described as RARE!)
Condition: Planchet striae (defects), dark oxidation spots, possibly cleaned some time ago, now nicely retoned, lightly tooled edge, otherwise VF+
Weight: 28.37gm
Diameter: 40mm
Material: Silver

Obverse: Draped bust of Joseph Clemens of Bavaria right.
Legend: IOSEPH . CLEM . D . C . AR . COLP . EL

Reverse: Crowned shield with arms of the Prince-Bishop and the Bishopric. Date (16-96) split above.
Legend: * EP . ET . PRINC . FEOD . DVX . BVL . MARFR . COLO . HO

The Bishopric of Liège or Prince-Bishopric of Liège was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries in present Belgium. It acquired its status as a prince-bishopric between 980 and 985 when Bishop Notger, who had been the bishop of Liege since 972, acquired the status of Prince-Bishop after he received secular control of the County of Huy from the emperor . The Prince-Bishopric belonged from 1500 on to the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. It was headed by the Prince-Bishop of Liège. Its territory included most of the present Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg, and some exclaves in other parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. The capital was Liège (which, as the bishopric, is Lüttich in German and Luik in Dutch). It briefly became a republic (the Liège Republic) from 1789 to 1791, before reverting to a Prince-Bishopric in 1791 then being annexed by France in 1795.

Joseph Clemens of Bavaria (German: Joseph Clemens von Bayern) (5 December 1671 – 12 November 1723) was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1688 to 1723.

The third son of Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria and his wife, Henrietta Adelaide of Savoy, Joseph Clemens was designated by his parents for a life in the church. He became Archbishop of Cologne in 1688 after the death of Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, and his appointment to that post by Pope Innocent XI was one cause of the Nine Years' War. He later also served as Prince-Bishop of Liège, of Regensburg, of Freising and of Hildesheim.

He was a proposed groom for Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres and only daughter of Philippe de France (brother of Louis XIV) and his second wife Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. Joseph Clemens' own sister Maria Anna Victoria had married Élisabeth Charlotte's cousin le Grand Dauphin. Élisabeth Charlotte refused and was later married to the Duke of Lorraine.

As did his brother Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, Joseph Clemens allied with France during the War of Spanish Succession and was forced to flee his residence Bonn in 1702 and found refuge at the French court. Joseph Clemens was put under the ban of the Empire and deprived of his lands in 1706.

The war between France and the Empire was finally ended in 1714 with the Treaty of Baden, which restored Joseph Clemens. He died in Bonn, and was buried at the Cologne Cathedral. Joseph Clemens was succeeded by his nephew Clemens August of Bavaria.