Hello everyone, I dug out a box of foreign coins that was collected by my uncle when he was in the Navy and would like some help identifying a few coins and see if any of them are rare etc. which I doubt but you never know! I also wonder if there is a good website that I can use to help identify some of the coins I have? Hopefully I won't have to go out a buy a foreign coin book as I still have a lot to learn about US coins before I move on to foreign ones I'll get a better list together if necessary, but most of the coins fall into these groups, please forgive me if my guesses are wrong, i know nothing of foreign coins, sorry : 1,2 & 5 Deutch Mark coins (Germany?) 1/2, 1, 2 & 5 Franc coins - front = republique francaise (France?) 5, 25 & 50 PTAS - front = de espana (spain?) 5, 10, 20, 1/2 Fr. & 2 Fr. - front = confederatio helvetica or just helvetia. ? I have included pics of the 2 most interesting I have found - can someone tell me more about them or point me in the right direction? The first is a 1937 "10 Reichspfennig" coin with an Eagle and swastika. The second is a 1951 20 Francs Republic Francaise coin - as you can see from the pics Anything worth researching here or should I just throw it all into a big foreign coin ebay lot? Also have some foreign bills, should I post them here or in the paper money forum? THANKS! J
Congrats on the find.:thumb: For identifying foreign coins, use the following website http://worldcoingallery.com Your guesses are right for Germany, France and Spain. Helvetia is Switzerland. The Aluminum-Bronze 1937A 10 Reichspfennig is a Third Reich (Nazi Germany) coin. Its worth a dollar or two in this grade. The French coin is very common and is worth less than a dollar in this grade.
Yep. They should say "Deutsche Mark" though, and the country name (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) should be somewhere on the pieces. Those are probably "new" francs (roughly 1960-2000). The 20 F coin you show in the picture is an "old francs" piece. Right - the word before that will probably be "rey", and "Rey de España" means "King of Spain". As kidromeo said, Switzerland. The country is trilingual (officially even quadrilingual), so instead of using all language versions on the coins, they picked the Latin name. Same thing with the denominations - the 5, 10 and 20 pieces are centimes, rappen, centesimi or raps depending on the language. So the unit name was left out altogether ... The Reichspfennig coin is from the German Empire (Deutsches Reich, 1871-1949). This particular type was made between 1936 and 1939. Christian
The reichspfennig was minted in Berlin (the large "A" mintmark). If the Spanish coins are dated either 1957 or 1975 those are "frozen" dates. Check the tiny six-pointed stars which will contain the actual mintage year. Post your currency in the paper money forum. An alternative to using the world coin gallery site is a visit to your local public library, where you can consult the Standard Catalog of World Coins ("Krause") and the Standard Catalog of Paper Money ("Pick") in the reference section.
Yeah I have a small collection of foreign which I just started. I have 2 of those 20 franc coins. I have a 1953 and a 1967. I also have one of the 5 PTAS from Spain. Either one of these isn't worth a whole lot but maybe if you post more pics you can find out if you have a money maker. Good luck with the bills and the coins, vintage bills can bring good money sometimes. Oh I don't collect German coins but I see them on ebay going for large amounts maybe b/c of the swastika.
Ya know I thought the French 20 Francs of the early 50's were bronze. Is thaqt one aluminum? i know in 52 in Indo-chine the French used Aluminum on the Kips of Laos. Ripley
Both coins shown in the images are aluminum-bronze pieces. That alloy usually has 90-95 percent copper and 5-10 percent aluminum. Christian
Well, that answers a question I had in another thread. I guess Aluminum Bronze isn't something we'll see replacing the NiCu we use in nickels any time soon (unless someone tows a couple of copper asteroids to earth).
A little off-topic but ... here in Europe an alloy called Nordic Gold is used for many coins these days. 89 percent copper plus a mix of zinc, aluminum and tin. In the euro area, it is used for the "mid range" denominations (10 to 50 ct). Poland's base metal commems are Nordic Gold too. Not terribly expensive, but I would not use it for the US nickel. Christian
