I enjoy collecting pre-WWI German coinage but do not come across alot of coinage minted for the German colonies. Certainly the most common I see are the East African Rupie and Heller but today I was able to pick up a nice New Guinea 1/2 Mark. I don't know how much of a collector base there is for German colonial coinage and I don't focus on it, but I do find it interesting. I'm still pretty happy with this 1/2 Mark. What I know about it is it is 90% silver with a mintage of about 16K and about the same size if not the same as a regular German 1/2 Mark. I will attach a couple photos for those interested. Please feel free to post other examples of colonial German coins and tell a little about them. MikeP
I don't have any like yours but this is the sort of thing I like. Coins from colonies are really interesting to me.
Coinage in relation to the Nebengiebiete/extraterritorial/colonies of the Kaiserrreich/German Empire tends to be expensive and is definitely counterfeit worthy. in case of further interest: http://www.ma-shops.de/shops/search...tnMenu=Finden&lang=de&PHPSESSID=&sindsvalue=0
I live in Germany and bought it here. Coin photography is not something I pretend to do well. The photo of the 1/2 mark was with an I-phone. I have compared the coin visually with all those available through the link that Goldmark provided (thanks). All details check out visually but I have not checked the weight yet. thanks, MikeP
Tokens from the SMS Konigsberg which supported the German Colonial Service and was sunk in the Rufiji Delta in German East Africa in WWI.
I went to a jewelry store downtown this afternoon and has the coin weighed, along with a regular German 1/2 mark since that weight is known. The weight was: Neu Guinea 1/2 mark 2.77 grams. Krause gives 2.778 German 1/2 mark 2.78 grams. Krause gives 2.777 Everything checks out with this coin weight and diameter wise as well as all the visual cues are spot on. Let me know if there is anything else I should be looking for. Thanks MikeP
That sounds good, luckily the 1/2 isn't as affected as the larger denominations with fakes to begin with. If you still want to be absolutely sure you can contact Mr. Franquinet who is an expert on this field, the other option is asking for more opinions on your coin by visiting a German coin forum which would also require more detailed pictures. Franquinet's website: http://www.franquinet.de/de/franquinet.htm?s=pv1nfhum1d764526mdj5193as5 another example of a real 1/2 Mark Neu-Guinea: http://www.coinarchives.com/796d138a29cc9b577fd4ae30b41fbc8b/img/kunker/218/image06150.jpg also a Chinese faker on ebay (here the 2 Mark Neu-Guinea): http://www.ebay.de/itm/110835362204?nma=true&si=qadxzkiEIeHpH91I8b%2BTjs2961k%3D&rt=nc&_trksid=p4340.l2557&orig_cvip=true another fake, this time the 5 Mark http://www.ebay.de/itm/261000495884?nma=true&si=qadxzkiEIeHpH91I8b%2BTjs2961k%3D&rt=nc&_trksid=p4340.l2557&orig_cvip=true