German Empire Coins Are Awesome

I just recently became interested in the German Marks from the Empire years. The seller aspencoins on ebay has just an amazing amount of these coins that he sells weekly. They are so interesting, because even in the same denomination (3 Marks for example), they have many different areas represented on the obverse of the coin. Originally, I liked them solely becuae of the eagle design on the back, but now I have seen more of the areas that can be on the front and some of them are so cool. A couple auctions for these just ended and unfortunately the best looking designs, I'm assuming are the rareset, and sell for the most, which I can't afford. Here are some of the examples of the coins I am talking about. My favorites are Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen. So far I have seen Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Prussia, Saxony, and Wurttemberg. If you know more about these coins, such as are there any more 'areas' then the ones I have listed. Also, what is the official name for 'areas'? Is it provinces, or states maybe?

 

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Hi
Very nice coins. Globally these areas are known as "German States"
As a matter of fact, they can be Duchy, Grand Duchy, Kingdom, Free State, Principality...
Try to Google german states or you could have a look in the Krause catalogue for World Coins that lists all of them

 

Regarding the nice ones you have already, here come the denomination of the "states"

Baden : Grand Duchy
Bavaria: Kingdom
Bremen: Free City
Hamburg: Free City
Lubeck: Free City
Prussia: Kingdom
Saxony: Kingdom
Wurtemberg: Kingdom

Happy hunting for the other "states" :smile

- Froggy

 

Just to clarify, I don't own any of the 3 coins I posted, as they sold for much more than I could afford. I did however pick up a Hamburg that wasn't as nice.

 

Plentiful beautiful. (the coins of the starting post)

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I will give my translation from "Kleiner Deutscher Münzkatalog/Günter Schön" catalog introduction -German to English

Since the beginning of the foundation of the German Empire at 18 January 1871 the diversity of released coinage is a discussed*[1] mirror image of youngest German history. Prefixed*[2] to the small denominations*[3] of the Kaisserreich are the strikes of the Länder (States) and Städte (cities) [snip- text in relation to numbering of catalog]. The coins of the German Fürstentümer (principalities), Herzogtümer (dukedoms), Großherzogtümer (grand duchy) and Königreiche (kingdoms) as are [the coins] of the Freien (free) and -Hansestädte (Hanseatic cities) Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck designated as Empirial coinage by characterization through the depiction of the Reichsadler*[4] and the inscription "Deutsches Reich".

Kaiserreich- German Empire
Kaiser -->Cesare -->Emperor
Reich -->Empire
(dualism of Reich in German language/ to be rich, to be prosperous-->reich sein; Reichtum-->wealth, prosperity)

*[1] orig. beredet
*[2] orig. voranstehend
*[3] orig. Kleinmünzen
*[4] Reichsadler -->Reich + Adler -->Empire + Eagle -->heraldic symbol of power

listing of all dominions with the right to issue coins
(perhaps territory is more suitable as dominion??? )

obverse specific to sovereign of dominion for nobles or coat of arms for the cities
reverse is the Reichsadler (uniform to all)/ two different versions small eagle (prior) and large eagle

Münzstätte -->mint and corresponding mintmark
A=Berlin
G=Karlsruhe
D=München
J=Hamburg
B=Hannover
H=Darmstadt
C=Frankfurt
E=Dresden (until 1886) later Muldenhütten (since 1887)

Anhalt (Herzogtum)
mint: A

Baden (Großherzogtum)
mint: G

Bayern (Königreich)
mint: D

Braunschweig (Herzogtum)
mint: A /**my remark: there are same very heavy hitters among the coins, very valuable

Bremen (Freie Hansestadt)
mint: J

Hamburg (Freie und Hansestadt)
mint: B, J

Hessen (Großherzogtum)
mint: A, H /**my remark: there are same very heavy hitters among the coins, very valuable

Lippe (Fürstentum)
mint: A /**my remark: 2 Mark pieces only but decent value

Lübeck (Freie und Hansestadt)
mint: A

Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Großherzogtum)
mint: A

Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Großherzogtum)
mint: A

Oldenburg (Großherzogtum)
mint: A, B /**my remark: 2 Mark and 5 Mark pieces have high value

Preußen (Königreich)
mint: A, B, C, J

Reuß älterer Linie (Fürstentum) & Reuß jüngerer Linie (Fürstentum)
mint: A, B /**my remark: all are obscurely expensive

Sachsen (Königreich)
mint: E

Sachsen-Altenburg (Herzogtum)
mint: A

Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (Herzogtum)
mint: A, E

Sachsen-Meiningen (Herzogtum)
mint: D

Sachsen-Weimar (Großherzogtum)
mint: A

Schaumburg-Lippe (Fürstentum) //obscure
mint: A, B

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (Fürstentum) //obscure
mint: A

Schwarzberg-Sonderhausen (Fürstentum) //obscure
mint: A

Waldeck und Pyrmont (Fürstentum) //obscure
mint: A

Württemberg (Königreich) //my home
mint: F


There are some very valuable coins to be found among most dominions, my remarks are my own opinion, collecting coins from all is a pure headache and the further you go back in time the more diversity is found.

 

Lucky you! So far I've only been able to buy a few silver Prussian coins (mostly Wilhelm II, who seems to be by far the most available, but also one from Friedrich Wilhelm IV) one Bavarian, and a Saxony copper. My pockets aren't that deep, I guess.

 

I also am a devoted collector of german emperial coinage. I especially fancy the Hamburg - coins because of the nice coat - of - arms. One of the most remarkeble coins of this era is the Bremen 2 - mark. Pay attention to the missing ring of pearls wich all other standard coins have. The Currency law of 1871 made this ring og pearls a must, but when in 1904 Bremen startet minting ,the public opinion was very much for reforming what was regarded as being a dull and outdated design. For the Bremen 2 and 5 mark a model without pearls was chosen. When the Department of Finances in Berlin got aware of this illegael issue, the 5 - mark was imediatly stopped and melted down, but the 2 mark allready had been sent out into circulation and one did not want to withdraw it i order to prevent creating a collectors item. And of course : some 15 or 16 5 -marks without pearls where " saved " from the melting - pot and now and then show up on coin auctions.

 

Schön lists 20 specimen for the 5 Mark coin 1904/1905 to be known (it's an older catalog 96/97).

@tarantella
I think here needs something to be clarified, I like them but I don't collect them. German coins are like their own micro cosmos, I've some of the smaller denominations besides that modern coins are my favorite.

 

They are beautiful coins , I just recently started picking up some examples . Definately one of the better European designs is their eagle . Great pickups .

 

Thank you for correcting me. When I wrote my posting yesterday I did not recall the acurate " number of surviervers " , so I wrote what I ment to recall was right.

And just to mention, the Ministery of Finances actually tried to get hold of the missing pieces, some of wich were issued to high - ranking mint - officals. But all of them denied to have them in their possession any more. Strange indeed...

 

As for the Bremen 5M coin "without pearl circle", keep in mind that we are talking about two different years here. It was first made in 1904, and according to the Jaeger catalog (which refers to a magazine article from about 100 years ago) 29 pieces with that date accidentally survived. In 1905 the coin was officially not minted at all; nevertheless about 20 were released. Last year somebody paid €45,000 for such a 1905 piece ...

Christian

 

:thumb:German Empire are under valued+ a great design here a few I have.

 

I know these are not empire coins, but I saw them on eBay the other day and thought they looked nice. Too bad these also went out of my price range

 

Nice designs! Here is a similar Frankfurt Vereinstaler, with the cathedral and a city tower in the background: https://www.kuenker.de/templates/images/muenzen/00066/05110q00.jpg The figure is Francofurtia, personification of the city, and many believe that the model was the actress Fanny Janauschek who also played in the US a lot. Some call the type "Rothschild Love Dollar", for reasons that have even more to do with ondits and rumors.

Christian

 

I've currently got a silver 5 pfennig (1899), copper 2 pfennig (1874) and two Nazi coins (1940 and 1941)

 

One of my favorites. Pattern NGC PF 65RB.

 

I also collect German Empire coins! So many to choose from, such little time....and money.

Some of the German states can get VERY pricey due to the low mintage.

 

Thats a great coin coppermania. I have seen that pattern before while browsing listings, but on the 2, 3, and 5 marks.
This is a Prussia 5 Mark currently for sale from aspencoins. Looks like they just switched the portrait.

 

gbroke, I'm glad you found this thread. Your pictures in the photo contest were the reason I found these amazing coins to begin with, and I thank you for that (or i curse you...$? lol)

I would love to see some of your favorite examples.