Collecting German Coins

So, I have collected Germans coin for a number of years now...but my collection has focused mostly on coins from the Third Reich era due to my interest in the second world war and the history of that period. However, I have long been fascinated in general about German history and have been looking into expanding my collecting interests to include coin beginning with German Unification through the end of the post-WWII occupation. Basically, the Deutsches Reich, Greater German Reich and the Allied Occupation.

My Third Reich era collection is currently fairly small as I have focused specifically on high quality coins and not gone for quality. I really like what I have assembled and think I can move forward with the same mindset into a larger range of coins.

Can anyone recommend any good resources about coinage from this era? I like to read up on the types of coins, relative rarity and just get a general feel for series before I dive in. Currently, the only reference I have is the 20th century Krause...which gives me a start for most of the coins. I should probably pick up a 19th century Krause as well. But, can anyone recommend a more specific resource?

 

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You could check your local library to see if they have a copy of any of the Krause world coin volumes. I prefer a good sit down read as opposed to the online search. That's just me of course, but paddyman is the one to go to for great links.

 

I have no German States coins after 1914, but like you I like the military history WW2/I have one relative that won the Knights Cross in 1945/Narva Front.
My best advice are the Krause books/Friedbergs gold Coins of the world. My German collection are from 1200-1914 all gold. My favs are Regensburg/Frankfurt/Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel coins.

 

For 1700ish to current issues covering German and Austrian coins, get a recent copy of Money Trend magazine. It comes out every couple months, only in German, and I've never seen it for sale in the states, but a great reference and has current values in their issuing country.

 

My interests in German hit the brakes at 1933. Love the Weimar commemoratives though and have a little side interest of Graf Zeppelin commems and medals. I'd like to get into more of the 1920s commems outside of the Zeppelins at some point.

 

Money Trend is a monthly magazine - well, eleven issues per year. MünzenRevue, and Münzen & Sammeln, do the same thing. In terms of catalogs, the Jaeger (Die deutschen Münzen seit 1871) is a classic ...

Christian

 

I like all German States gold coinage, upto 1916. My favorites are the beautifull coins from 1600-1800 esp. under Holy Roman Empire.

 

Where do you think I could track down one of these catalogs? I wouldn't need to update it...but having one for a reference would be really handy.

 

There's a few listed on ebay but they are shipped from Germany, might get pricey.

 

Money Trend, MünzenRevue and Münzen & Sammeln are magazines with a couple of catalog (price guide) pages in every issue. Older MT issues (before 2013) are free to view, and you can download all articles from those. Newer ones are for subscribers only. http://www.moneytrend.at/numismatikportal/magazin.php

MR and M&S are from the same publishing house. They are available "electronically" too (subscription or single issues).

MR info, German: http://www.gietl-verlag.de/muenzenrevue/zeitlong/6.html
PDF download: https://www.united-kiosk.de/muenzen+revue+-+epaper-ebinr_2113303.html?language=en

M&S info, German: http://www.gietl-verlag.de/muenzen-sammeln/zeitlong/8.html
PDF download: https://www.united-kiosk.de/muenzen+sammeln+-+epaper-ebinr_2112672.html?language=en

As far as I know, the catalogs (Jaeger, and also the Schön) are available as dead trees only. And, all this literature is in German ...

Christian

 

Thank you Christian. That is a big help. My German isn't good but I know enough to get through it.

 

My interest in Germany is strictly limited to my birth year (1941).
That means that most of the coins are struck in zinc.
And anyone familiar with zinc knows it doesn't age well.
But since this is a fun thing for me as long as the coins (1, 5, & 10 rpf) are reasonably identifiable I'm okay with them.
I think I've seen some of the zinc coins with original surfaces.
Either that or they were cleaned.

The German coins that I'm VERY likely never to get are the 5 & 10 rpf military issues.
They are pricey!!!

 

I have a German coin 1938(2mark) on it and other see them.

 

I have a few zinc coins in my collection with original luster and everything...but they are hard to come by and are often spendy. I don't have any with good luster from '41 but I do have a toned 1941-D 5rpf that's MS.

As for the military issues...the 1941 coins are quite scarce. I do have a lovely 1940-A 10rpf in MS with nice luster. It's one of my favorite coins and currently the centerpiece of my German collection (although it might soon have a rival for that title).

 

Type Coins of Germany: http://coins.bobfinnan.com/NaziGermany.html
Nazi Coins research: http://luckylukeonline.com/history.html
Nazi Coin List: http://www.joelscoins.com/nazi.htm

I have followed a similar path to yours. The type coin I have left to obtain is the
1934 13.99 g., .900 Silver 29MM, KM-85 - Schiller which is a bit more pricey then the others in the series.

 

Guess that collectors who are interested in nazi coinage only when it comes to Germany won't really need a comprehensive catalog such as the Jaeger or the Schön. Those two start in 1871 and currently end, well, in 2016. (The Jaeger also has a few notgeld issues, the Schön also covers the neighbors AT, CH, LI.) And since they are somewhat pricy - the Jaeger catalog costs about €25 here - , they do not make much sense unless you can get one cheap ...

Christian

 

Why? It's actually pretty cheap to ship from Germany to the US, with DHL/Deutsche Post there's always tracking included for parcels or registered letters and US customs has never hold anything I shipped. So there shouldn't be any import charges. Bubble envelopes are the best option from my experience if you want to save money. DHL express or FedEx could indeed be pricey though.

 

I was thinking about the ebay Global shipping Program. If someone overseas orders I ship relatively inexpensively to ebay's facility but when "they" ship, they charge outrageous amounts to the recipient in addition to what I have already charged. I was not sure about the catalogs actually being pricey as compared to their issue price.

 

eBay's GSP program includes the import charges for the destination country. E.g. a seller is asking $599 for a coin I watch, int'l shipping is $17.50 and the import charges are about $135. That's an additional $150+ dollars or a 25% increase in costs for that coin. If the seller doesn't offer free shipping in the US, their shipping fees are added on top of that. Luckily I am not trying to be cheap when buying coins

 

New poster here--A few years ago, Krause published a the 3rd edition of their all-German catalog that covers ~1500 to the end of the BDR. It is a massive red volume and I think rather difficult to come by these days, but it is absolutely the best English language resource for German coins.