I see these plastered all over ebay, and am very intrigued, but afraid they were probably all fakes =(
Unlikely, they are very common in low grades and not very valuable. Any "Nazi Gold" is fake however, they have been plated.
Although, Russia lost 27000000 people in WW II, we have a very good relationships with Germany. During a several centuries German people went in Russia and lived there. It was a scientists, good soldiers, dealers & industrialists. These people has brought a lot of advantage to my country. In Russia the relation to Germans very positive. Probable, Russian sympathize with Germans to the greatest degree. Modern Germany is an ideal for Russia. The governor of the Tomsk region is the German who was born in Russia. He is so popular that head us already more than 20 years.
Well, sometimes it can be difficult to have good relations to Russia and, for example, Poland or Estonia at the same time. Within the European Union such cooperation works pretty well (leaving Italian and Hungarian issues aside for a moment ...), but that should not prevent us from being on good terms with Russia. Errm, back to nazi coinage; here is a piece from their first year, 1933. It commemorates the 450th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth. (Image: worldcoingallery.com) No nazi symbols on these pieces (a 2 RM and a 5 RM with the same design) yet, but you will notice the use of "Fraktur" blackletter type. Now this is not the first coin with Fraktur script, but the nazis made its use mandatory. Except the artist was criticized because of his "round S". Huh? On all other coins issued in the "Third Reich" and the Allied Occupation years, there are two different S types in the word "Deutsches": the "long S" (which looks similar to a lowercase F) and the "round S". But the designer of the Luther coin, Hans Wissel, thought that the round S would be better. Well, this was the first and last one with the two "round S" characters ... Ironically, the nazis later changed their views regarding Fraktur: In 1941 they decided that this type was based on "Jewish" characters rolleyes and that the use of Fraktur should be phased out. The reason was basically a "pragmatic" one - Fraktur was hard to read for people in the occupied territories. As the transition took quite a while, and as the coins with Fraktur were primarily used in Germany, modifying the pfennigs did not have a high priority. Christian
Here is a West German (Underground) sterling coin (medal). Commemorating the 100 th aniversary of "Old Crazy Eye's birth. I kinda like the reverse. Note: The West german gooberment closed the makers of these medals down, Rather draconian.
could you post a pic of the rare, and not-so-rare, coins please? I have several like this in my collection. I inherited them from my Grandfather and it's funny, even though the collection is organised all from Grandpa are mixed together in the original box my Grandmother gave me when he died. I would just like to know, as I wouldn't sell anything in that box for any amt. of $.
I like this one. Very nice condition, and extremely risky, I'd imagine, for anyone carrying it during the time.
Odd. Pretty much every other source I know says those pieces were made in Italy. So it would be interesting where you have your info from. They show up once in a while; guess that all those collectors who would really badly want a coin with Hitler's mug will "have" to buy one of those instead. But I guess you can tell the difference between an actual coin issued in the late 1930s/early 40s, and a "neo" nazi medal like the one you have. And yes, while the former are legal, such nazi propaganda is indeed against the law here. Christian
Here is the not so rare, it is dated 1948. Notice there is no swastika. This coin was minted after the allies were in control, they removed the swastika from the coin. These allied occupation coins were minted from 1945-1948. They were made in denominations of 1, 5, and 10 Pf. Not all denominations were minted in all years: the 1pf was 1945-46, the 5pf was 1947-48, and the 10pf was 1945-1948. They are all made of zinc and the majority are common. However, because of the low quality of material they were made out of...and how many have been stored over the years, they can be hard to find nice MS non-spotted examples. Mine is a 1948-A 5pf in MS64 with a lot of luster remaining and only minor spotting. Mine is pictured below. It is a common date/MM but it is a nice example. Now, for the really rare allied occupation coin. It is a 1pf dated 1944-D. It is possibly a pattern and there is only one example known. This is a 1944-D allied occupation 1pf with no swastika...not a 1944 1pf with swastika. The 1944-D 1pf with swastika is very common.
Heck, while I was still busy scanning images from my catalog, you posted the piece with the tail. So I will just add the one where the swastika was merely removed from the die. An image from the Schön catalog ... Christian
I lived in Germany as a kid in the '70s. I remember that at the time one could still find a 1948 pfennig in circulation on which the inscription read "Bank Deutscher Laender" instead of "Bundes Repulik Deutschland"(Federal Republic of Germany). I believe these were also minted under the authority of the allied occupation before the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was founded.
Yes, those older pieces - issued in 1948/49 in the Western occupation zones, after the currency reform but before the Federal Republic was founded - actually stayed in circulation until the end of 2001. By the way, those Franken coins from Saarland had the same specifications as the French coins at that time. Saarland did not join the Federal Republic of Germany until 1957; the DM was introduced in that state in July 1959. But listing the coins from Saarland and from the Federal Republic here makes about as much sense as adding say, images of US or USSR coins to this topic. Christian