So I have been working on these Italy coins (specifically 100 lire denomination), as well as German Empire 1/2 Mark, as of late. One that i found so far was a 1957 R (AU) and I did some research and found that an uncirculated example goes for $50.00!?! Are there any veterans of this type that can back this up? It kinda caught me off guard because I only paid $0.13 for the darn thing at my local coin shop. I will post pics in the later.
All I can say is congratulations on a fine buy :hug: I dont collect the 100 lira but I do have a small collection of the 1/2 marks
thanks, i make weekly trips so I will be sure to look for some more of those. My other deal was on a 1915 J 1/2 mark, (AU-MS state) for $5.00, i looked it up when i got home and my reference said $18 in Uncirculated and I saw trends on eBay that backed this up.
Most likely, the shop-owner didn't bother to look too closely and saw it as mere "foreign crap." Or, if he's a more motivated dealer, simply saw another common-looking 100 lire (as I'm sure many of us would, myself included). Either way, you got the coin!
Here is the German deal first here is the 1957 100 Lire, It's actually damaged, but i still like it. *the color between the obverse and reverse are actually the same, photographer's flaw.
Some moderns are actually quite common in XF or AU but rare in unc. The best example are the 10Y Japanese coins from the early '50's. The Italian 100L are scarce in unc and a little toughin nice AU but they get pretty common by XF. There are some that are tough in XF as well but generally they aren't hard enough to get a big premium.
I agreee. Krause lists the 1956r as $4 in xf and $50 in unc. I have several in vf and one nice example in BU. The 1957r I have in unc is listed at $150 in unc and $15 in xf. The 1950g pfenning from Germany is also very high in BU grades. For some reason I find them by the doqens here in NY state in unc. Olmanjon
That's because they are two different pieces. The expensive one is the 1950 G coin with the inscription "Bank deutscher Länder". That type was minted in 1949, in the transition phase between the allied occupation and the federal republic. Once the Federal Republic of Germany was founded (May '49), the inscription was changed to "Bundesrepublik Deutschland", the country's name. For some reason, the Karlsruhe mint accidentally produced about 30,000 pieces with the old (BdL) text. And those are expensive indeed, from €370 in VF to about €1,000 in BU. The 1950 G coin with the regular (BRD) text is about €15 in BU. Christian
Thanks for the heads up on this variety. It is not listed in Krause and was not aware of it. Is there a good book on German coins that is in English available that you know of? You said 15 euro for the 50g in bu. How much is this in US dollars? Thanks again, Olmanjon.
That would be about $20.16. Nice cherrypicks:thumb: And thanks for the info Christian.....I have lots of 1950 G pfennigs....I'll go through them now but with 30,000 mintage figure the chances are slim.
So currency converters are available in India but not in the US? As for a book in English about German coins, sorry, don't know about that. The "standard" is the Jaeger catalog (1871-today), but that is in German. Maybe somebody who is more familiar with English catalogs can help here? Christian
Just wanted to keep the thread going on the euro question. As far as the german book is concerned I did see one listed by Krause at Barnes and Nobel. Would sure like to get a recent used one. According to Barnes and Noble they are not available in new.
would a 1950 Destushe 1mark be something special to hold on to? Its a circulated one, no major scratches or any dents..
Not really. From my POV the 1950 coins - the Pfennig denominations and also the 1 Deutsche Mark piece - are interesting because these are the very first coins from this country (Federal Republic of Germany). On the other hand, this also means they are "mass" pieces since a lot of them were minted in the first year. So unless yours is particularly well preserved (for an EF piece a dealer may want €10, and about €70 for a BU piece), it is quite common ... Christian
As a rule most moderns (coins made after the switch to base metal) were made in enormous quantities and are still common. They tend to be scarcer in unc than older coins and high grade circs are nearly non-existent. Where older uncs tend to have little variation in production quality the modern ones are more likely to be poorly with high quality ones being very tough. Of course there are numerous exceptions. The German coins from the '50's were recalled and melted so the survivors are of unknown quantity. It's likely that lots of 50p survived since it's a low denomination but these will usually have heavy wear. These are more common in high circulated grades than most moderns though. A lot about the details of moderns won't emerge until they get more interest and more demand but there's no question that the German cu/ ni from the '50's is not seen much in unc. It wasn't seen in the '70's when I started looking for it either. As tough as it is to identify rarities in an area it's even tougher to find them. As someone once told me; If you could find it it wouldn't be rare.
Right. We do know how many DM/Pf coins have "survived" so far, or rather their total face value: roughly 24 billion coins, worth about DM 7bn. (No detailed info per denomination though.) Since in DE there is no deadline for the redemption, many people just keep whatever they find or have left. And yes, getting one of those 1950 coins in excellent (unc) condition will certainly cost you more than face. Another issue is that most denominations started with a frozen date. For example, the 1950 BRD 50 Pfennig coins were made, with that year, between 1950 and 1965 ... Christian
Thanks for the info. It's surprising that the average is so high. Keep in mind that this is the difference between production and redemption. Many of these coins have been lost and destroyed over the decades. They rotted away in landfills and burned up in fires. They were lost in floods and the area bulldozed to be rebuilt. They were thrown into fountains, rivers, and lakes for good luck. Also keep in mind that most of these missing coins will be low denomination because these aren't worth the effort to haul off to the bank. Most of them will also be heavily worn because this is what happened to the typical coin. If it weren't then high mintage coins from the '50's wouldn't list for $1000 in unc. You aren't going to find many key dates or high grades among these missing coins and you're not even going to find many of the missing coins except for the low denominations. The number of these in collections is still quite small because most coin collectors hate moderns. In fifty years there will still be few collections but then it will be because the coins are scarce rather than a lack of interest.
