Template:POTD/2019-02-15
_1645_10_Ducat_(Portugaloser).jpg)
An image of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689) on a 10-ducat coin from the German state of Erfurt. The only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Christina became queen at the age of six, upon her father's death at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. She abdicated in 1654 when she converted to Roman Catholicism, becoming a symbol of the Counter-Reformation. Her image appeared on Erfurt coinage as a result of the state's occupation by Swedish forces between 1631 and 1648, during the Thirty Years War. Seven gold coins are known to exist bearing the effigy of Queen Christina: a unique 1649 5-ducat, and six 1645 10-ducat specimens.Image credit: National Numismatic Collection and National Museum of American History