Our quest in seeing the coins issued under the authoritry given to each of the 38 German States still in existence during the life of the German Empire brings us to the alphabetical letter "P" for Prussia. Though Prussia was an entity way back in the days of the Holy Roman Empire, our quest begins in 1701 when Elector Friedrich III was accorded the title of "King in Prussia" (a reward for his support of Austria during the War of Spanish Succession). Note: A numismatic event occurred when Friedrich II, Friederich III's father instituted the use of single alphabet letters to replace the symbols and minter's initials used to identify the coins of yesteryear. Many of those single letters are still in use in modern Germany. Our quest, brings to light that, during 1888, Wilhem II became Emporer of Germany replacing his father Wilhem I. So, through the life of the German Empire (1871-1918) Prussia remained a kingdom lead by father and son until World War I ended both entities. Another thing you should realize is the denomination of coinage changed under the auspices of the German Empire. Previous to the German Empire's coming into being denominations were <i> Groschen, Silber Groschen, fractional Thalers, Reichsthalers and Thaler. The denomination was changed to the Mark. In fact, as the changeover didn't occur until after mid-1871, both denominations were eventually struck at the Berlin Mint. Here's a photo of the 1871 1 Thaler coin courtesy of Don's World Coin Gallery (www.worldcoingallery.com) PRUSSIA 1871 SILVER 1 TALER - PRE GERMAN EMPIRE Here's a photo of an 1876 2 Mark. As you see, not only was the denomination changed from Thaler to Mark, the legend has changed to WILHEM DEUTSCHER KAISER KONIG V. PREUSSEN World Coin Gallery Photo: PRUSSIA 1876 SILVER 2 MARK - WILLHEM I It's time for us to look at the coins authorized by Prussia under Kaiser Wilhem II: It's time for us to look at the coins authorized by Prussia under Kaiser Wilhem II: PRUSSIA 1905 SILVER 2 MARK - KAISERWILHEM II You remember my explaining the designation of Prussia as a kingdom and the title of King being accorded to Friedrich III in 1701? Want to know why I pointed that out to you? Since that date was the beginning of the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia, under the leadership of Kaiser Wilhem II, authorized the striking of a 28mm silver (0.3215 ounce ASW) 200th Anniversary (1901) 2 Mark coin (2,600,000 b/s - ? proofs) commemorating the anniversary. Photo courtesy of World Coin Gallery: PRUSSIA 1901 SILVER 2 MARK - 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KINGDOM A 38mm silver (0.8037 ounce) 200th Anniversary 5 Mark coin (460,000 b/s - ? proofs) was also authorized. World Coin Gallery Photo: PRUSSIA 1901 SILVER 5 MARK - 200 YEAR ANNIVERSARY Another important year in Prussia's history was 1813 when Napolean was defeated at Leipzig. Two coins were authorized to honor the event: I present to you sample of the production with a photo of the 1910-A silver 3 Mark: PRUSSIA 1910-A SILVER 3 MARK - KAISER WILHEM II During Wilhem II's reign two silver 3 Mark coins were authorized in honor of two of Germany's Universities: One, struck in 1910, honors Berlin University. World Coin Gallery photo: PRUSSIA 1910-A SILVER 3 MARK - BERLIN UNIVERSITY The other coin, struck in 1911 honors the Breslau University. (World Coin Gallery photo: PRUSSIA 1911-A SILVER 3 MARK - BRESLAU UNIVERSITY Kaiser Wilhelm II liked the artist's rendition of his bust dressed in a uniform so much, it became the new obverse of his last coinage authorizations. It's the same image as on the 1913 25 Years of Reign coins. Here's the 1914-A silver 3 Mark piece (World Coin Gallery photo): PRUSSIA 1914-A SILVER 3 MARK - KAISER WILHEM BUST IN UNIFORM and here's a photo of a 1913-A (also minted in 1914) silver 5 Mark piece courtesy of World Coin Gallery: 1913-A SILVER 5 MARK - KAISER WILHEM BUST IN UNIFORM Prussia's authorized silver 5 Mark non-commemoritive coinage under Kaiser Wilhem II struck by the Berlin Mint from 1891 through 1908 include the following statistics. (World Coin Gallery Photo): 38mm, 0.8037 ounce ASW, Type III Imperial Eagle on reverse: PRUSSIA 1902-A SILVER 5 MARK - KAISER WILHEM II Since Wilhem II became the Kaiser in 1888 after his father's demise, I wondered what the 1888 Coins looked like. If you are wonderong about it too, here's a photo of the 1888-A 2 Mark coin courtesy of Coin Archives: PRUSSIA 1888-A SILVER 2 MARK- KAISER WILHEM II I saved this Silver Commemorative dated 1915 as a treat just for Coin Talk members and visitors. It's a 3 Mark piece struck to remember and honor the centenary (100 years) of Prussia's absorption of Manfeld. The obverse features Saint George slaying the Dragon. Notice the beautiful relief and strike of this coin (both sides). Photo courtesy of Coin Archives PRUSSIA 1915-A SILVER 3 MARK - ABSORPTION OF MANSFELD CENTENARY Kaiser Wilhem II's reign over Prussia saw gold coins in denominations of 10 and 20 Mark authorized to be struck for circulation and as proofs. The 10 Mark coins minted through 1912 bear the same designs as the 20 Mark pieces produced at Berlin through 1913. Here's those designs as seen on this photo of a 1911 20 Mark gold piece. World Coin Gallery photo: PRUSSIA 1911-A GOLD 20 MARK - KAISER WILHEM II Just like the other coinage, the 20 Mark gold coins' obverse, part way through 1913, saw the change to Wilhem II 's bust clad in a uniform as evidenced by this World Coin Gallery Photo: PRUSSIA GOLD 20 MARK - KAISER WILHEM BUST IN UNIFORM Hoped you enjoyed this "trivia" post... Clinker
Thank you, Clinker! While I am not exactly a "friend" of Prussia and the dominant role it had mostly between 1815 and 1945, the country and state sure issued a lot of interesting coins. And you show some attractive pieces here. Right, the Prussian mintmark system was also used in the German Empire. And since the state dominated the country, the first three letters A, B and C were reserved for the mints in Prussia. (Munich/Bavaria got the D, Dresden/Saxony used E, etc.). The Federal Republic of Germany did indeed keep those letters, except today we "only" have five mints ... While the German monarchy ended after WW1, the German Empire (Deutsches Reich) continued to exist until the Federal Republic was founded in 1949. The state of Prussia ceased to exist in 1947. Note that the title of the emperor was not "Kaiser von Deutschland" (Emperor of Germany) but "Deutscher Kaiser" (German Emperor). That was done primarily to avoid conflicts with the rival Austria. Wilhelm I did not particularly like the title from what I have read, but he found it more important to be King of Prussia anyway. An interesting example of politics on coins. The university in Breslau was actually founded around 1700, when the city was part of Austria. In the Prussian years, it was merged with another university in 1811 - and that "merger" is what, for the purpose of this Prussian coin, is considered the foundation of the university. Since the end of WW2 Breslau/Wrocław has been part of the Polish Republic and is a major academic center of the country. And I think they do count the pre-1811 years as part of the university's history. Christian
Thanks Clinker! I have posted (as well as others) some Prussian Mark & Thaler coins in this thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t152372/?pagenumber= It got linked back here, so I am linking this thread to that one if you would like to see more Prussian Coins.
Here's my gold Prussian coin: Germany Prussia 10 Marks 1888-A (Berlin) - Frederick III; FRIEDRICH DEUTSCHER KAISER KONIG V. PREUSSEN; (Frederick, Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia); DEUTSCHES REICH 1888 / 10 MARK; (German Empire / 10 Marks); 3.98 grams, 0.900 gold, 19mm; Krause catalog number: 514, mintage 876,000; NGC graded MS-61 The reason I got this coin is explained here: Germany 10 Marks Frederick III - Durant Nash Hesse Jewel Heist http://www.cointalk.com/t152173
