Very nice! Exactly: both are from Prussia. It is very hard to find coins with Wilhelm I in good condition.
Steve,the Prussian 1901 Kingdom Bicentenary coins are actually quite difficult to find,as are most German States' commemorative coins.That is a very nice 1874A 5 Mark coin. Aidan.
Looks like I might have picked up a bit of a bargin then Aiden, I had no idea that they were on the rare side LOL Cost e7.50 £5.02 $9.84 us $14.06nz De Orc :thumb:
Prussian 1901 Kingdom Bicentenary: 2 Mark 1901 = 2.600.000 5 Mark 1901 = 460.000 ================= 5 Mark 1874 A = 837.546
These coins are actually not all that difficult to come by here in Britland, especially the 200 yrs commemoratives. If anything i've always been surprised at just how cheap they tend to be when you consider the relatively low mintages. ...though, if you only paid a fiver for both of them, then you did indeed get a bargain. They are worth more than that in silver content alone. Ian
The Bicentennial coin is really nice, and yes, the price was definitely OK. Cologne, eh? Hope you enjoyed the place not just with regard to coins. I live a little further north, in the state capital. Christian
Cologne is a great city and I love the arena (Went to watch a Ice hockey game) all I realy know of Düsseldorf is the airport LOL as we got transferd there from Cologne the other day due to bad weather at Heathrow. Did visit Düsseldorf once for a xmas market trip, which was fun :smile this is our 6th year of visiting now for the Xmas markets & coins :smile possibly back to Berlin next year. De Orc :kewl:
Very nice Orc, very nice. Two neat additions to your ever expanding stable of throughbred coinage ben
Collecting German coins is very popular in my district (Silesia) because before 1945 it was parted: half was Polish, half German. Close to Gliwice was Polish-German border... Silver coins of German States cost in my city $15 - 70 and it is very easy to find commemorative pieces. De Orc, compare with my coins:
Tom,the Reichsmark didn't exist under the 3 Kaisers of Germany.It was actually created to replace the Rentenmark (Pension Mark) in 1924.There were Rentenmark notes that were issued as late as 1937. Kaiser Wilhem II's Prussian silver coins are very nice.Among the coins I have recently been forced to offload is a 1913 2 Mark,which commemorates Kaiser Wilhem II's Silver Jubilee as both Kaiser of Germany & King of Prussia. Aidan.
What says the history? Second German Reich - official name for German country founded by Otto von Bismarck in 1871. Known also as Kaiserreich (Ceasar`s Reich) or 2nd Reich (in German: Zweites Reich). Using word "reich" in country name corresponds to historical Ist Reich - das Heilige Römische Reich deutscher Nation in 962-1806. End of 2nd Reich was in 1918. Names "reichsmark" and "reichsthaler" is correct for every Reichs` coinage. Open an old German book and see the price - for example: 2,50 RM. What is "RM"? Aidan, I supose you don`t know German language. Ich spreche Deutsch, aber nicht zu genug. Reichsbanknote, Reichsbank and Reichsmark mean: note, bank and mark of Reich. Some people used to use "4th Reich" title for UE structures...
Actually it first was called "Sacrum (Romanum) Imperium" - after all, it saw itself as a legitimate successor to the ancient Roman empire. That "Deutscher Nation" was added in the 15th or 16th century, I think. As for the currency name in the "second empire", the official term was indeed just "Mark". The Reichsmark did not exist before 1924. However, when it was necessary to differentiate between the Mark of the (second) Reich and older Marks (say, from Lübeck) or colonial coinage (e.g. New Guinea), the term "Reichsmark" was sometimes used for clarification purposes. So, in a way you're both right. Christian
