1 Thaler - Ernest I

Ernest I ruled Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1826, the duchy having been assembled only that year through a territorial reorganization following the extinction of the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld line. The 1835 thaler was struck under the Bavarian-influenced monetary conventions that governed the smaller German states before the Prussian-led Zollverein brought greater standardization to northern coinage. Ernest's more famous contribution to European history was dynastic rather than political — his son Albert married Queen Victoria in 1840, making this obscure duchy the genetic source of the British royal house that survives today.