For your viewing enjoyment, the finest known 1931-A German 3 Mark Magdeburg commemorative. Likely original mintage of only a few hundred. Without a doubt the finest in existence. Not sure why they only called it a cameo and not deep cameo as the coin is fully deep cameo. Finest at NGC is PR68 (no cameo), PR65 Cameo, & PR67 Ultra Cameo. Finest at PCGS is PR68 (no cameo), PR69 Cameo (this coin and only cameo example), and PR67 Deep Cameo.
Great design and in excellent condition. The total mintage was 100,000 but probably less than one tenth of that still exists - and definitely much fewer in that grade. The issue refers to the Sack of Magdeburg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Magdeburg and to the city's "renaissance" after the war. Christian
For these in typical condition or this insane condition? Typical condition you can get these for $300 in low proof to $500 in gem. For grades PR67 and above there are no guides, you just have to guess at the market.
Here in Germany that would be the Jaeger or Schön catalogs, and the prices published by MünzenRevue magazine. Not sure what is available in the US though ... Christian
Umm, yes, that is what I meant when I wrote that "The total mintage was 100,000 but probably less than one tenth of that still exists - and definitely much fewer in that grade." We should keep in mind that the original mintage figures mean hardly anything when it comes to how many are available today. As for the "business strike" pieces, about 90 million 3RM coins (all Weimar types combined) were issued. Roughly 70 years ago, only 2 to 3 million pieces had not been redeemed yet - thus less than 3%. Even if we assume that people tend to keep commemorative pieces, there won't be many around. The precise number of proof pieces is not known, which is fairly normal for German Empire coins. But according to the Jaeger they cost between €450 and €550. Christian