TRIVIA: The Last Coins of the Free City State of Hamburg, German Empire

The Last Coins of the Free City State of Hamburg, German Empire

Not only did the Free State of Hamburg ally with Lubeck in 1241 to form the first partnership of the Hanseatic League, its mint struck coins for itself until it joined the German Empire in 1871. It, then, produced minor coinage for the German Empire (mint mark J) and its own silver and gold coins (mint mark J) in denominations higher then one Mark.

Way back when Hamburg was part of the Holy Roman Empire (1792-1806) and the mintmaster was Otto Heinrich Knorre, his initials O.H.K. were placed on the obverse of each coin as evidenced on this silver 32 Shilling (2 Mark) piece Photo courtesy of Omnicoin:

HAMBURG 1796 32 SCHILLING

Would you like to see some photos of Hamburg's earlier coins? When viewing the coins note the slight changes that took place through their numismatic history.

Unless noted, the photos you'll be looking at are courtesy of Don's World Coin Gallery:

This first coin is of a 1 Dreiling denomination which equals 3 Pfenning or 1/4 Schilling or 1/128 Thaler. Notice the plainess of the issue:

HAMBURG 1855-J 1 DREILING

The next coin has Initials added to the obverse and spells out Hamburg followed by the denomination:

HAMBURG 1819-J SHILLING

This next 1 Shilling design was minted only in the two years 1855 and 1856. No obverse initials and HAMBURG on obverse abbreviated to HAMB along with the denomination abbreviated to COUR.

HAMBURG 1855-J 1 SHILLING

The next coin is a 1 Sechsling struck in 1855

HAMBURG 1855-J ONE SECHSLING

The next five coins are Silver Mark pieces minted by Hamburg for circulation in Hamburg between 1871 and 1914 all bearing the J mint mark (proof coins were struck during the years from 1901 thru 1913 but the number of proofs produced remains a mystery):

HAMBURG 1904-J TWO (ZWEI) MARK

HAMBURG 1909-J THREE (DRIE) MARK

HAMBURG 1876-J 5 (FUNF) MARK

Hamburg also minted gold coins from 1871 through 1913 in denominations of 10 Mark and 20 Mark. I located a photo of the gold 10 Mark coin at Coin Archives website and a photo of a gold 20 Mark at Worldwide Numismatics website:

HAMBURG 1901-J GOLD 10 MARK

HAMBURG 1897-J GOLD 20 MARK

As previously mentioned Hamburg minted those gold and silver coins higher than 1 Mark for themselves, but also minor coinage for the German Empire. Here's an 1875-J 10 Pfennig coin:

GERMAN EMPIRE 1875-J 10 PFENNIG

Here's some bonus history of coinage struck by the Hamburg Mint in 1916; World War I Military Coinage. Both Berlin (mint mark A) and Hamburg Mint (J mint mark) struck the coinage consisting of Kopek, 2 Kopeks and 3 Kopeks (World Coin Gallery Photos):

GERMAN EMPIRE 1916-J KOPEK - WWI MILITARY ISSUE

GERMAN EMPIRE 1916-J 2 KOPEKS - WWI MILITARY ISSUE

GERMAN EMPIRE 1916 3 KOPEKS - WWI MILITARY ISSUE

Hope you enjoyed some of Hamburg's numismatic history...

Clinker

 

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Thanks for the post Clinker!!

 

The Hamburg Mint, by the way, is the oldest operating mint in Germany. The state's CoA has been in use since the 12th or 13th century; it is a combination of a fortified castle and a church tower ...

Christian

 

Hi Duke:

AND "Thank you" for reading and commenting

Clinker

 

Hi Christian...

A big THANKS for the addendum PLUS A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Clinker

 

Thank you Duke Kavanaugh!

Clinker

 

Thank you!

 

Happy New Year to you too, Clinker! And I (as many others, I think) am looking forward to more "trivia" in 2011.

Christian