Ferdinand III, King of Hungary 1625, King of Bohemia 1627, Emperor 1637-1657. 2 Ducats 1657, Wien mint, mint master Johann Conrad Richthausen, Baron von Chaos, AV 28 mm, 6.93 g. FERDINAND - III D G - R I S A - G H B REX Laureate, armoured bust right, draped with cloak, chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece, in the legend the shields of arms of New Austria (the Bindenschild) and Old Austria with Archducal coronet, the sign of the mint master below. Rev. ARCHI D AVST DVX - BVRG CO TYRO 1657 Crowned double-headed eagle draped with a collar, oval divided shield of arms on the breast, shield of arms of Austria/Burgundy with the Archducal coronet below. F. -; Hahn -; Herinek 137. Extremely rare. A little wavy, otherwise lustrous, extremely fine Ex Glendining, London sale 26.10.1938, 11 ('very rare') - purchased through Schulman. Ex Franz Seeger coll., Adolph Hess Nachfolger, Frankfurt am Main sale 201, 23.10.1930, 94. According to our records, this is the only specimen in private hands. - The mint master, Johann Conrad Richthausen, was one of the most colourful figures of his profession. From 1646 to 1648 he served as mint master in Brno (Brünn), and on 31 July 1648 he was appointed mint master in Vienna. His mint mark, a triangle within a circle, is an alchemical symbol for fire and gold. Richthausen, a favourite of Emperor Ferdinand III, was also active as an alchemist; in 1648, the Emperor is said to have carried out a transmutation of mercury into gold using a powder provided by Richthausen. In 1653, he was accused of financial irregularities, but was rehabilitated shortly afterwards and elevated to the nobility on 29 July 1653. He himself chose the title: ‘Baron von Chaos’. He was exempted from paying a seigniorage and appointed Chief Mint Master of Lower and Upper Austria. Ferdinand’s successor, Emperor Leopold I, dismissed Baron von Chaos from his post as Master of the Mint on 31 December 1658, but appointed him Senior Chamberlain ('Oberkammergraf') in the Upper Hungarian (now Slovak) mining towns in 1659. Upon his death in 1653, the wealthy Baron von Chaos bequeathed his estate to the Chaos Foundation ('Chaos'sche Stiftung') for Orphans. Please find here the video of the coin