1/2 Frederick d'Or - Frederick William III

The Frederick d'Or series takes its name from Frederick the Great, who established the denomination in 1741 partly to fund the War of Austrian Succession — a coin born from military necessity that outlasted him by decades. By 1817, Prussia was rebuilding after the Napoleonic devastation, and gold coinage resumed in earnest following years of wartime fiscal disruption that had throttled precious metal supplies across the German states.

KM#397 represents the half-denomination, struck at Berlin in modest quantities relative to the full Frederick d'Or.