Germany coin thread (only the best)

Christian, the shooting medal reads: ZWEITES DEUTSCHES BUNDES SCHIESSEN JULI 1865 BREMEN

The front of the small metal reads: FRIEDRICH DEUTSCHER KAISER KONIG V.PREUSSEN M. The other side reads: LERNE LEIDEN OHNE ZU KLAGEN with a signature.

 

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Ah, I see. Then the double eagle will be a reference to the Confederation. This "Lerne leiden ohne zu klagen" was one of the so-called Prussian virtues which were influenced by ideas of the Enlightenment but also by the military ...

Christian

 

So interesting and that what makes hobby fun. Steve

 

Military medals are a very historic section of numismatics with a much more direct (in some cases) connection to specific events. I wish we could have section for them on this site!

 

May I post some metal detector finds military badges, button, medals? Steve

 

So far no one has mentioned my favorite coin types so I will post a short article of mine written a few years ago:
The 20 Heller Coins of German East Africa by F.J. Borgmann
The coinage of German East Africa has always held my interest and the 20 heller coins of 1916 are at the top of my list. The reason for this is that the coins were minted and issued by the German colonial government and military as they were successfully fighting a guerilla war against overwhelming allied forces. The coins were struck in brass and copper. The brass was from artillery shell casings and the copper from pipes mostly salvaged from the SMS Koenigsberg, a German cruiser that was trapped in the Rufiji Delta and damaged by British gun fire. The ship was scuttled by the Germans to prevent it’s capture after the big guns and ammunition were salvaged for use as land based artillery. The first coins struck were the 5 heller KM-14 and the 20 heller KM-15a coins in brass. When the brass ran out the 20 heller production continued in copper. Based on total mintages 1,307,760 coins were minted in brass and only 325,940 in copper. That makes the copper version about four times scarcer than the brass. Both metal versions were struck with the same dies. The obverse dies exist in two versions; large crown and small crown which are listed in the SCWC as obverse type A and obverse type B. The reverses exist in three types and are listed in SCWC as; reverse type A curled tip on second L in heller. Reverse type B pointed tips on both L’s in heller. Reverse C curled tips on both L’s in heller. While this covers all the bases I think the listing order is very incorrect. The first dies were modeled on the pre-war 5 and 10 heller coins which had the fancy curled tips on both of the L’s in the word heller and the 1916 dated brass 5 heller coin clearly shows this design on the first and only die design of that type. Therefore the 20 heller reverse type A should be first the version with curled tips on both L’s.
Reverse type B should be the version with a curled tip on only the right or second L in the word heller. Kurt Jaeger states in his book on German coins Die deutschen Muenzen seit 1871 that the curled tip “broke off” early in the production. That would mean that the hub or master die used to make the working dies which were used to strike the actual coins, was damaged causing the missing curled tip. That was not enough of a flaw under the circumstances to discontinue the use of the damaged dies. As a result the type A reverse with two curled tip L’s is rare and the type B reverse with only one curled tip L is common.
A second reverse hub was produced which had pointy tipped L’s and this produced what should be Reverse type C with pointy tips on both L’s.
Collectors of this series must deal with a few challenges. First the brass alloy had some variations causing some of the brass coins to be very dark and easily mistaken for the copper version. Secondly grading the coins can be problematic. Many of the planchets were crudely manufactured and have flaws. The dies were surprisingly good considering the circumstances but weak strikes are very common. The result is that one can find very worn looking coins that at first glance would be considered to be in poor condition while in reality they are in high grade condition. To grade these coins examine the rims and edges. If the rims are sharp and the edges are not worn smooth it is a high grade weak strike. A weak strike may not look too nice but technically it could still be extra fine or better. As a collector myself, I prefer the well struck coins in fine to very fine condition with complete design features to an AU-Unc. weak strike.

 

While I am not really interested in military related items, you can of course post them. But this topic may not be the right place. Try making that a new topic, here or in the Coin Chat forum.

Christian

 

When I was healthy I found a 1860/80 button made by Scovill mcg they made military buttons

 

Interesting article, JB, thanks! The bottom of the wreath is also interesting (one leaf per branch, or more) - well, those are emergency issues, and you wrote, we should keep that in mind when judging the varieties and condition.

What I have always found fascinating about "DOA" coins is that they had gold notgeld. Silver was pretty much impossible to get at that time, but the Germans controlled the gold mine in Tabora ...

Christian

 

Christian. I will keep this forum just as it is. Great German coins which are my favorite off all coins.

 

Thanks Christian, as far as I know the leaf count does not change within the variations as I list them. Fred

 

Picked up some nice German coins lately.

I actively collect the German Federal Republik "Screming Eagle" 5 marks.
It is extremely difficult to find toned examples, let alone with multiple colors.
This is the first actual rainbow toned one I have ever come across. It;s the first year for this type, which is a bonus.


Some new examples of my favorite German coins - German Empire.

1906 G 1 Mark


1909 A 1 Mark


1915 E 1 Mark


1914 J 3 Mark - Hamburg


1911 A Prussia 3 Mark - Konig

 

Outstanding

 

Yes, I think you're right. Actually you will be more familiar with them than I am.

Christian

 

Here's an attempt at a first post. Trying to copy a Photobucket scan of an 1888 1 pfennig. You can ignore the 5 centavos 1916 from Cuba.

 

great effort

 

Thanks for the encouragement. Here's some pocket change from long ago.

 

If there is any coin series I enjoy the most it is the German Empire era 1 Mark coins. My focus right now is locating the last 10 coins of the 120 in the 1891-1916 Large Eagle series and upgrading a few as well (minus the 1905 F).

Below are two I recently picked up. the 1901 J is a slight upgrade to one I already had. The 1911 G I had no real reason to buy as I already have a couple of them that are pretty nice but I liked it anyway.

1901 J mintage 530K

1911 G mintage 300K

 

Nice collection

 

Here's a collection of German coins and notgelds old and new. Steve