2 Thalers / 3½ Gulden - Louis I Walhalla

The Walhalla memorial near Regensburg was inaugurated by Ludwig I on 18 October 1842 — the anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig — and this double thaler was struck the same year to mark the occasion. Ludwig had personally driven the project for decades, commissioning Leo von Klenze to design the Greek Revival hall and funding much of it from his own civil list. The dual denomination — valid as both 2 Thalers in northern German states and 3½ Gulden in southern ones — reflects the awkward monetary patchwork of the German Confederation before unification forced standardization.