Will you look at that? Our journey through the numismatic history of the 38 German States existing through the years (1871-1918) of the German Empire brings us to the alphabetical listing of Saxony. Saxony traces its foundational roots back to 850, but its numismatical ancestry began around 990. Of course we are currently looking at Saxony's coins that were struck under authorization of the German Empire. Remember minor business strike (circulating) coinage from 1 Pfennig through 1 Mark was struck by mints of the German Empire bearing the following mint marks: B - Berlin D - Munich E - Muldenhutten F - Stuttgart G - Karlsruhe J - Hamburg There's another mint mark of importance in the numismatic history of Saxony and that mint mark is L for Leipzig Mint where the pre-German Empire coinage of Saxony was produced Saxony, being one of the more powerful states of central Europe, became a kingdom in 1806. During the years of the German Empire, Saxony came under the leadership of three different kings: Johann, 1871-1873 Albert, 1873-1902 Georg, 1902-1904 Friedrich August III, 1904-1918 Photos of Saxony's coinage, even those struck by the Muldenhutten Mint, are hard to come by so I'm only going to be able to present, for your perusel, a few of Saxony's coins authorized during 1871-1918. No coin photos authorized by Saxony under Johann's leadership during 1871-1873 were found, however I located an 1858-F (Stuttgart mint mark) silver Ein (1) Verinsthaler (FORVM's Classical Numismatic Gallery photo): SAXONY 1858-F SILVER 1 VERINSTHALER - KING JOHANN I found two photos (courtesy of Anythinganywhere) from King Albert's leadership of Saxony. One's a 1902 Silver 5 Mark and is the same design struck on the 1901 and 1902 2 Mark as well as the 1901 5 Mark: SAXONY 1902 SILVER 5 MARK - KING ALBERT Here's a photo of a gold 1901-E 10 Mark (Anythinganywhere.com photo): SAXONY 1901-E GOLD 10 MARK - KING ALBERT Later, I found this photo of a 1891 silver 2 Mark courtesy of AVS Coins: 1891-E SILVER 2 MARK - KING ALBERT After King Albert's death Saxony, under the new Leadership of King Georg, authorized the striking of commemorative Silver 2 and 5 Mark coins in 1902. Both bear same design. This 2 Mark photo courtesy of Anthinganywhere.com is a nice example of the issues: SAXONY 1902-E SILVER 2 MARK - DEATH OF ALBERT In 1909 Saxony authorized silver Zwei (2) Mark and Funf (5) Mark coins to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of Leipzig University. Here's a photo of the 2 Mark. The obverse features Crown Prince Friedrich the Pugnacious and Friedrich August III. Photo courtesy of FORVM Classical Numiusmatics Gallery: SAXONY 1909 SILVER 2 MARK- 500TH ANNIVERSARY LEIPZIG UNIVERSITY 5 Mark photo courtesy of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles: SAXONY 1909 SILVER 5 MARK - 500TH ANNIVERSARY LEIPZIG UNIVERSITY From 1908 through 1913 Saxony, under the leadership of King Friedrich August III, authorized the Muldenhutton Mint to strike Silver Drie (3) Mark coins for circulation as follows: 1908-E - 276,073 1909-E - 1,196,719 1910-E - 745,000 1911-E - 581,250 1912-E - 306,500 1913-E - Unknown Representative of the group, I present a 1912-E 3 Mark courtesy of FORVM Classical Numismatics Gallery: SAXONY 1912-E SILVER 3 MARK - KING FRIEDRICH AUGUST III Also, in 1913 Saxony issued a silver commemorative 3 Mark coin to honor the Centennial of the Battle of Leipzig. Photo courtesy of AVS Coins: SAXONY 1913-E SILVER 3 MARK - BATTLE OF LEIPZIG CENTENNIAL Hope you enjoyed this post... Clinker
Thanks again, Clinker! I suppose it is not easy to always find images of the coins you want to show. The FORVM links do not work for me; guess one has to be a member of that forum in order to view them. One thing about the mints - when the German Empire was founded, there were a few more mints, but some were closed after just a few years. Here is a complete list, primarily to show that the "list of mintmarks" initially had no gaps in the alphabet. A - Berlin B - Hannover (until 1878) (during the occupation of Austria 1938-45, Vienna used the B) C - Frankfurt (until 1879) D - München/Munich E - Dresden (until 1887), then Muldenhütten (later made GDR coins until 1953) F - Stuttgart G - Karlsruhe H - Darmstadt (until 1882) J - Hamburg Also, there is one more coin from Saxony that I would like to add. It was issued in 1917 and commemorates 400 years of the Lutheran Reformation. The piece shows Frederick III who helped and protected Luther. As this coin came out during WW1, only 100 pieces (of 330,000 planned) were made; the rest was to be issued after the war. Later about half of that low mintage was melted down. Here you can buy one, provided you pay 85,000 euro ... http://www.beutler-muenzen.de/artikel502_258.htm (A modern copy is much less expensive. ) http://www.muenzauktion.com/zilvar/item.php5?id=1476&lang=en&curr=USDEUR This page shows the original, and its original, so to say: http://www.coingallery.de/KarlV/FriedIII_D.htm The coin at the bottom is the 1917 piece, designed by Friedrich W. Hörnlein and inspired by the piece above it, a Saxonian 16c taler. And now back to affordable pieces, hehe. Christian
