1 Thaler - Frederick Günther

Frederick Günther ruled Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt during one of the most disruptive periods in German princely history — the Napoleonic reorganization of the German states had dissolved the old Reich in 1806 and subjected the Thuringian principalities to the Confederation of the Rhine, which meant French political oversight and obligations including troop levies for Napoleon's campaigns. The 1812–1813 dating places this thaler's production precisely across the catastrophic Russian campaign and its immediate aftermath, when the Confederation was visibly collapsing.

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was among the smaller surviving principalities, and thaler-sized silver issues from this period were struck in limited quantities relative to larger German states. The Davenport reference places it within the broader German Thaler series rather than a distinct subsection, reflecting its continuity with pre-Napoleonic weight and fineness conventions.