I was really chuffed, as they say, to be able to acquire this special coin: an 1894 silver 2 Rupien minted for the German East Africa Company. These big 2 rupien coins were minted for only two years - 1893 and 1894 - and while both were very low mintages, the 1894 is by far the scarcer of the two with an original mintage of only 18,000. They are popular, too, as the only crown-sized silver coins minted for colonial Africa. I managed to snag mine for a great price at an auction where I suspect it was overlooked to some extent. It's one of my favorite of all my colonial Africa types! GERMAN EAST AFRICA COMPANY Time of Wilhelm II, 1888-1918 AR 2 Rupien (35.0mm, 23.32g, 12h) Dated 1894. Berlin mint, Germany Obverse: GUILELMUS II IMPERATOR around bust of Kaiser Wilhelm II in military attire, wearing eagle-crested helmet Reverse: Arms of the German East Africa Company with date; DEUTSCH-OSTAFRIKANISCHE GESELLSCHAFT above, * ZWEI RUPIEN * below References: Numista 17045; PCGS 145900 Mintage: 18,000 Toned. A very scarce, low-mintage issue of this crown-sized German colonial coin. In 1884, the so-called “Scramble for Africa” was just beginning, as rival European powers sought to outdo each other in establishing colonies and trading influence over large swathes of the African continent. Germany, newly risen to Great Power status, founded the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft (German East Africa Company) in 1884 to help develop settlement and trade in the Great Lakes region of east Africa. However, the DOAG soon found that it could not effectively control its territory without substantial assistance from the German Imperial government. The company was eventually acquired by the German government in 1891, and its territories became the colony of German East Africa.
