2 Schillings Theodor Billroth

Issued to mark the centenary of Theodor Billroth's birth, this coin honors the surgeon who pioneered gastrointestinal resection techniques still foundational to abdominal surgery. Billroth performed the first successful gastric resection in 1881 at Vienna's Allgemeines Krankenhaus — his patient, a 43-year-old woman with pyloric cancer, survived. He was also an accomplished amateur musician and close friend of Brahms, who regularly debuted chamber works in Billroth's Vienna salon before public performance.

Austria's interwar commemorative program produced several such silver 2-Schilling pieces in the late 1920s, each tied to a specific cultural or scientific figure. Mintage for this type was modest by design.