1 Thaler Ragusa Silver

1794, Republic of Ragusa. Large Silver Libertina (2 Ducati) Thaler Coin.

Mint Year: 1794 State: Ragusa (Republic)   Mint Place: Dubrovnik (Croatia) Denomination: Libertina (2 Ducati) Thaler Reference: Davenport 1641, Mimica 987 (R2!), KM-21. R! Weight: 28.80gm Diameter: 42mm Material: Silver

Obverse: Draped and diademed female bust (imitating the popular thaler coinage of Empress Maria Theresa) right. Comment: Mint master’s initials (G.A) below.   Legend: RESPVBL . - RHACVS .   Reverse: Crowned shield with inscription in three lines (LIBERTAS) within wreath. Date (1794) below, flanked by initials (G-A). Legend: DVCE . DEO – FIDE . ET . IVST . Exergue: G.F (mint master’s initials)

The   Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik) was a maritime republic   centred on the city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik, today in southernmost   Croatia), in Dalmatia, from the 14th century AD until 1808. It reached   its peak in the 15th and the 16th century before being conquered by   Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire of France in 1808. It had a population of   about 30,000 people, of which 5,000 lived within the city walls.

The Republic ruled a compact area of southern   Dalmatia – its final borders were formed by 1426 – comprising the   mainland coast from Neum to the Prevlaka peninsula as well as the   Pelješac peninsula and the islands of Lastovo and Mljet, as well as a   number of smaller islands off Lastovo and Dubrovnik such as Koločep,   Lopud, and Šipan.

In the 15th century the Ragusan republic also   acquired the islands of Korcula, Brac and Hvar for about eight years.   However they had to be given up due to the resistance of local minor   aristocrats sympathizing with Venice which was granting them some   privileges.

In 1684, the emissaries renewed an agreement contracted in Višegrad in the year 1358 and accepted the sovereignty of the Austrian Emperor over Ragusa as a Croatian-Hungarian King, with an annual tax of 500 ducats.   At the same time Ragusa continued to recognize the sovereignty of   Turkey; which was nothing unusual in those days. After this even greater   opportunities opened up for Ragusa ships in ports all along the   Dalmatian coast, in which they anchored frequently.

In 1683 the Turks were defeated in the Battle of   Kahlenberg outside Vienna. The Field marshal of the Austrian army was   Ragusan Frano Dživo Gundulić/Gondola. In the Treaty of Karlowitz of   1699, the Ottomans ceded all of Hungary, Transylvania, Slavonia,   Dalmatia and Podolia to the victorious Habsburgs, Venetians, and Poles.

The Ottoman Empire was no longer a threat to   Christian Europe. After this, Venice captured a part of Ragusa’s inland   area and approached its borders. They presented the threat of completely   surrounding and cutting off Ragusa’s trade inland. In view of this   danger and anticipating the defeat of the Turks in 1684 Ragusa sent   emissaries to the Austrian Emperor Leopold in Vienna, hoping that the   Austrian Army would capture Bosnia. Fortunately for the Republic, the   Ottomans retained their control over their hinterland. With the 26   January 1699 peace agreement, the Republic of Ragusa ceded two patches   of its coast to the Ottoman Empire so that the Republic of Venice would   be unable to attack from land, only from the sea. One of them, the   northwestern land border with the small town of Neum, is today the only   outlet of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Adriatic Sea. The   southeastern border village of Sutorina later became part of Montenegro,   which has coastline to the south. Ragusa continued its policy of strict   neutrality in the War of Austrian succession (1741–48) and in the Seven   Years' War (1756–63).

In 1783 the Ragusan Council did not answer the   proposition put forward by their diplomatic representative in Paris,   Frano Favi, that they should establish diplomatic relations with the   USA. Although the Americans agreed to allow Ragusan ships free passage   in their ports.