So I'm strictly a US coin guy, but someone has asked me to look through some foreign coins for them since they knew I collected coins. I mostly have been looking at ebay for some prices and most were not worth much of anything. This one however seemed pretty interesting. Can someone tell me more about it and possible price? Thanks. I may post more other pics/questions if I come across anything.And are there any tips or tricks of looking through foreign coins?
That coin (the first one posted) is a German 50 Pfennig. I believe it is a common coin in the low grades. There are different mint marks (D, F, J, G), but not that great of difference in price. More info here: http://www.coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=1597&main_ct_id=0
The first one is 50 pfennig from Germany, value is minimal. The 2nd is a spain 1 peseta, value also mimimal. Maybe worth a buck a piece....
It's a West German Coin AOmonsta, What you have here appears to be a West German 50 pfennig coin. It has a copper-nickel composition and could be worth anywhere from $0.50 to around $10.00 depending on which mint produced it and its overall condition. Unfortunately I can't make out the mint mark on your coin (it appears below the "50"). It isn't an uncommon coin. Your best bet for finding the price of this coin, and any others that your curious about, would be to check your local library for a copy of the 2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins (used copies sell on amazon for around $13-$20). It will provide you with loads of pictures, prices, and information on just about any modern world coin. Happy Hunting
"And are there any tips or tricks of looking through foreign coins?" You can find out the silver content of various foreign coins on this site: http://currencydebasement.com/ (Just click on the Silver Coins button)
Yea the German coin is a G mint. I saw a guy on ebay had one for $150. Saying only 1800 minted. That's all I really had to go on at the time. I also found a couple old Cuban and Haitian coins that were pretty cool.Also an old Canadian dime with a sailboat on it, pretty sure it may be silver.
Don't believe everything that an eBay seller says. Your coin was issued by the Federal Republic of Germany (today's Germany so to say) and has that country's name. Mintage (for 1950 G) was about 66 million. If it was dated 1950 and said "Bank Deutscher Länder" instead (ie. Allied Occupation but after the currency reform), mintage would be about 30,000 only. Well, if you took your coin to the central bank here, you would get precisely €0.26 for it ... Christian
The 1950 "G" was restruck without authority and is worth $350 in VF However the coin had Bank Deutscher Länder on it instead of the more common Bundes Republik Deutschland like yours.
Happens to all of us. By the way, "restruck without authority" is correct and yet not quite right: Since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in May 1949, the new coins - as from 1950 - were to have the country name (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) instead of "Bank Deutscher Länder". The mint in Karlsruhe, however, produced those 30,000 error pieces - which were then declared legal tender by some special announcement in the government bulletin. (In excellent condition, that "error" piece is worth about €800 these days, but beware of manipulations.) The other mints (plus Karlsruhe/G once the error was found) used the country name for the 1950 pieces - and yes, that combination is not rare at all. In fact, since 1950 was a frozen date for the 50 Pf coins minted between 1950 and 1965, that is the most common combo. Still a nice design, I think. The woman planting an oak tree (thus symbolizing the "new life" and reconstruction after WW2) is Gerda Jo Werner, the wife of the designer Richard M. Werner. He was born in 1903 and died in 1949, thus never experienced the later "success" of his design. His wife however, born in 1914, died in 2004 shortly before her 90th birthday. The coin design was based on nude figure drawings that Richard Werner had made of his (then pregnant) wife. For the coin he added a light dress and that little tree. Interestingly, until the 1980s most people had no idea who the woman on the coin was. Christian
