Third Reich.

I had about 30 of those darn things, didnt like them and gave them all away for the treasure hunt in long beach. Bleh.

 

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Does this include the allied occupation coinage issued from 1945-48 or were those long gone from circulation?

 

Depends on the denomination and the country/territory. In the Western occupation zones of Germany, after the June 1948 currency reform, the German Empire (Deutsches Reich) pfennig coins, with or without swastika, stayed in circulation - at one tenth of their face value - until Sep'48 or Apr'49. In the Eastern zone (later GDR) they were legal tender until some time between Nov'48 and Apr'50, again depending on the denomination.

What was kind of odd is that in Austria the 1 Reichspfennig zinc coin, with or without swastika, continued to be legal tender until the end of February 2002. (Not the 5, not the 10 etc. - those had lost their legal tender status long ago - , just the 1 Rpf.) Guess they had somehow forgotten about it, as the piece had an extremely low value that had made it useless quite a few decades before 2002.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the coins that said "Bank deutscher Länder" (1948/49) stayed in circulation until the euro cash changeover. And since they have the same specifications as the Federal Republic's pfennig coins, they can (like pretty much every coin and note from this country) still be redeemed too.

Christian

 

This coin was minted in Weimar Republic, but has circulated in the Third Reich. It's the only German coin with such unusual face value in XXth century.

 

Actually that coin hardly circulated. The Brüning government had, in December 1931, the brilliant idea to counter deflation this way: If we have a 4 Pfennig coin instead of a 5 Pfennig piece, stores etc. will lower their prices ... Surprise, did not work. When the coins were issued in 1932, people did not like them, banks did not order them from the central bank. The nazi government, and thus the "Third Reich", began on 30 Jan 1933 - and on 1 Oct 1933 that coin was demonetized.

Christian

 

Nice Eugene, I never saw a 4 pennig before. Good stuff.

 

50 reichspfennig 1940, aluminium. Berlin Mint. With swastika on obverse.

 

My father who was a WWII vet brought home a pocket full of German coins, but I was just a kid so I lost them. They were not silver but very light in weight. He had to stay in Germany for about five months after the surrender. He had all kinds of stuff he traded away to officers. He being just a dog face artillery man.

 

I have some aluminum, too, but from Poland and France.