German coin, wilhelm I 1887 gold coin, it was produced for his 90th birthday. Has an angel and a cradle on one side and his face on the other. Any guesses on what it is worth??
Welcome to the forum susie. I'm afraid your description doesn't appear to match any coin of the 19th Century German Empire because according to the Standard Catalog of World Coins No gold coins were minted for the Empire and Wilhelm I did not put his face on any coins You may have some kind of medal struck to honor the occasion, but without a clear picture and information on the size and weight, there's really no way to help you any further. Condition is such a major component of valuation for any particular coin/medal/token that pictures of both sides are very necessary.
Actually there are quite a few German coins featuring Wilhelm I - the 5, 10, and 20 Mark pieces. But I agree, this "coin" seems to be a medal. There are 20 M pieces dated 1887, and they have Wilhelm I on the obverse, but those are regular coins with a face value, and not commemoratives ... Christian
Thanks...please wait pic Thanks for responding I will be getting my digital camera on Monday and will send a picture. I did look up some history on Wilhelm I and the picture in the articles does match the pic on the coin. I have a camera phone but I don't think it will do it justice, I will try at a later post.
As I said in my post, "according to Krause". Why don't you send information on the missing coins (with pictures if possible) to michaelt@krause.com , so they can add them to the next edition?
Hmm, maybe we are "talking" about different pieces here? The ones I had in mind are these (the images show the 20 M coin minted between 1874 and 1888): Christian
Here it is The side of the coin with the angle looks kind of inside out, just the way the scanner picked it up. It is however worn.
That is a medal. Coins usually are government issues and have a face value; a German coin from those years would have "Deutsches Reich" and a value in Mark somewhere. Medals can of course be very nice too - problem is that anybody can make and sell them. Determining the value of a coin can be difficult, but at least you can look them up in a catalog and say, ah, mine is coin number soandso, and in this and that condition it should be worth so and so much. With medals that is much more difficult ... Christian
Thank you Thanks for your help, I do have additional coins and I will most likely post at a later date, this one had caught my eye. Thanks again. Susan
The folks at Krause seems to be confused. They state that the German states were united into an empire ruled by Willhelm 1 in 1871, and appropriately list all the pfennig denominations, and the 1 mark coins, from 1873 on as Imperial coins. However, all 2-20 mark coins from 1872 on are still in the Prussian State listings, under a "Monetary Reform" heading. The one you posted is KM#505. Even though Prussia was the dominant state at the time of creation of the Empire, and Willhelm remained King of Prussia after becoming Emperor of all the Germans, calling 1 mark coins "German" and 2 mark coins with "Deutsches Reich" legends "Prussian" after 1871 just doesn't make any sense to me.
As far as I know, the German Empire (the feds so to say ) had the right to issue coins with a face value of 1 mark and below. The higher value silver and gold coins were issued by the states but legal tender in the entire country. (I am not sure about the details but this pretty much sums it up.) So it does make sense to have different sections for low value (1 Pf - 1 M) and high value (2 - 20 M) coins, with the latter being in some "German States" section and then sorted by state. The German catalogs I use (Jaeger, Schön) sort the imperial coins in that order. Krause (I only have the "1901-present" volume, so could not look Wilhelm I up in the SCWC) seems to follow a similar system, except they have the "German States" in a separate section before the "Germany - Empire" section. That is kind of confusing indeed ... Christian
Kaiser Wilhelm I's Birthday Medal. The medal is actually commemorating Kaiser Wilhelm I's birthday,as the abbreviation for 'Geburtstag' (Birthday) is present as the last word on the reverse before the '1888'.It must also be remembered that Kaiser Wilhelm I also died in 1888.Any medals commemorating his death would have 'Todestag' (literally 'Death Day') inscribed. Aidan.
