I have been ignoring my German coin collecting lately, so lately i have been trying to acquire some more German 5 marks in hopes of completing a year set (business strikes and/or proofs). These are German 60% silver 5 marks for the Federal Republic (1949-1990). This 5 Mark was minted from 1951-1974. The revers Eagle is commonly known as the "Screaming Eagle". One of my favorite eagle design for any coin. Although these are not hard to find, they do get very difficult to find in MS condition for many of the years. They can get also get pricey in UNC. As far as toners go, I have only found 2, and not rainbow. I thought I would share some of these beauties as I was just finally able to find some raw, uncirculated ones. Specs: 11.2000 g 0.6250 Silver 0.2250 oz. ASW 29 mm Here are some examples, including some proofs. The good, the bad, and the ugly all included. -greg
You got some nice pieces there. As you wrote, the 5 DM silver circulation coin is dated 1951-1974. The 5 DM commems (issued at face) were silver until 1979/Archeological Institute, after that in Cu-Ni for a few years. Those "silverless" commems were not very popular, so they were later replaced with 10 DM silver pieces (from 1987/Berlin until 2001/Constitutional Court) and then €10 silver issues (from 2002/Euro Cash until early 2011/Liszt). As for the "screaming" eagle, keep in mind that the bird on the coins of the Federal Republic is a heraldic eagle. It always looks to the left (from the viewer's perspective), the beak is open, and the tongue is visible. However, on coins the eagle is to be adapted to the overall design. So some eagles look pretty fancy ... or weird. Christian
