There are many pieces engraved by Karl Goetz that I find artistically (and historically) interesting -- but among all of his designs, his many variations of the eagle are, in my opinion, his artistic best. He captures something so elegant about the eagle, and the detail he puts into the feathers, talons, stance, etc. is stunning. An example of the 2 Mark Goetz "unofficial" pattern has long been on my want list. I had this particular example on my watch list on eBay for quite some time, and finally pulled the trigger last week. It arrived this last weekend, and I had a chance to photograph it this evening. Please feel free to post your examples from the extensive set of "patterns" that Goetz produced.
I agree about the eagle design, very interesting use of art nouveau style that was still popular at the time these were made.
Most of Goetz's medals are political propaganda pieces, and I am not exactly fond of them. His coin designs - none of them was ever picked for an actual coin - are not that bad, but I have no idea why in this case he displayed the Prussian eagle so prominently, with a very asymmetric German eagle above it. According to the Schaaf catalog, he also had 3M and 5M designs minted, all in various metals. Christian
The 1913 "patterns" were minted in "denominations" of 2, 3, 5, 10, and 20 Marks. They were minted in metals bronze, bronzed-copper, copper, silver plated copper, silver, and gold (the silver and gold pieces were limited to quantities of 5 pieces each). The later 1925 "patterns" were minted in denominations of only 2, 3, and 5 Marks (maybe that's what you're looking at in Schaaf?).
This always seemed odd to me as the two metals often look similar. Maybe not fresh off the press though.
My understanding of "bronzed-copper" (at least how it was applied to Conder tokens) was a copper planchet, onto which was applied bronze powder at the time of striking. I agree with you that they can be difficult to differentiate, and for all intents and purposes are basically copper pieces. The surfaces of bronzed-copper pieces tend to be iridescent, less "red", and likely protected from (blotchy, spotty, unsightly) oxidation more than pure copper. My avatar happens to be what's described as a "bronzed copper proof" token. You can certainly see the bronzing effect when tilted into the light just right.
No, I just forgot to look for the "gold" numbers. For those not familiar with Schaaf's way of numbering the patterns: He used the Jaeger catalog number and added his own G/design or M/material numbers for the patterns he found. Christian
Really nice piece. I've been looking for an original Goetz 1914 probe krone. I'm assuming you've checked out karlgoetz.com? Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Is your pattern an original or one of the "restrikes" done by his son? I think the restrikes have an edge stamp. I don't believe any of the TPGs differentiate.
No edge stamp, original as far as I know. I have found no mention of the 1913 pieces having been restruck by his son...care to offer a link to that?
