I have been thinking for a long time that I would like to put together a set of gold coins. As someone who loves German coins, the 20 Mark coins from 1871-1915 seem like an excellent option. It appears that the majority of these coins can be purchased in lightly circulated grade for near spot value...so it almost seems like an opportunity to invest in gold and put together a collection at the same time. I would be curious if anyone here has any experience collecting these coins and if they have any advice on how to approach the set. I'd like to work towards a Date/MM business strike set. I know there are a few rare ones mixed in, like the 1875-B and 1877-C but most seem to be reasonably common. Does anyone have any good sources for these coins as well? Thanks.
I would start at MA-Shops. See the link below. It looks like they have a bunch to choose from. You probably won't find a domestic source that has this kind of quantity or selection. https://www.ma-shops.com/shops/search.php?searchstr=Prussia++20+Mark+Gold&ref=autocomplete
My concern from a value preservation perspective is the thinning of the collector base. For German gold, I suspect it's relatively thin to begin with simply because of the costs associated with assembling such a set. Combine that with an aging collector base and I'd hesitate before paying much over melt.
There is no need to put together a set with every year and mintmark. That would be a very expensive goal. I would start as following. One example of the two types of Wilhelm I, a piece with the head of Friedrich and the three different types of Wilhelm II. Altogether 6 pieces of Prussian history. That's doable with 2.500 Bucks in good quality ( AU58 and up).
I collect ancient-present AV types. My suggestion is to get the most inexpensive date for each type/ but in MS-64+ quality. I have about 35 AV 5/10/20marks so far. Some German States like Reuss Younger/ Older Line are mucho $$$$. Others like Baden/ Bayern/ Preussen/ Sachsen/ Wurttemberg/ Hesse-Darmstadt/ Hamburg/ are easy to get most rulers in high quality. Here is one from Deutsches Ost Afrika AV 15 Rupien/ Tabora Mint
I completely agree that such a project would be a massive undertaking and very expensive. But, its not something that I would do quickly either. I figure I would start just as you describe, with a type set. Then, expand from there with the goal of adding 2-3 per year until I retire. Such a set would be approximately 60 coins.
Are the mintages found here remotely accurate? I know that Krause often isn't a great reference for some mintages of foreign coins...and this looks to basically be copied right out of there. I like to create a spreadsheet for coins I want to search for and I tend to include the mintage. Would this be a decent reference for that? http://www.coindatabase.com/coin_germany.php?pais=10065 That one is cool!!!