Can anyone tell me where I would look to find a value for Germain coins, Natzi era? I have 2 - 5 deutsch mark coins (1940 & 41) and 1 -10 deutsch mark coin dated 1943. I tried to photograph them but they are very dark and don't photograph well, but I'll keep trying.
Hi and welcome to the forum. The Standard Catalog of World Coins ("Krause") is the starting place for identifying and valuing any coin dated 1601-present. It comes in four big city telephone book-size volumes for the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th/21st Centuries. Chances are you can find a copy, at least of the 20/21st Century volume, at your local public library. The value of any coin depends on its rarity and condition, among other factors. Many of the Nazi-era German coins were zinc, which darkens and corrodes very easily, and as a result their condition is not very good, resulting in relatively low values.
You could also search here: http://www.sammler.com/muenzdb/index.html In the bar on the left, click on "Dritte-Reich-Münzen", then pick the coin you have. Below the picture (if there is one) and the description, there are two fields. In the wider one, enter the year of your coin. Then enter the mintmark (one character) in the smaller one and click the GO button. Usually you will get three prices, one for the coin in "ss" condition (VF), one for "vz", and one for "unz" (unc). Some caveats, though: First, these prices are not what a dealer would give you. Then, in some cases prices in the US differ from prices in Germany. And finally ... see the last sentence of the previous reply Christian
Thanks for the info guys, I'm off to research my coins... 2 are in pretty good condition~ no corrosion, but the third is in pretty bad shape. Actually they'd probably be of more interest to a WWII collector than a coin collector. And, can anyone tell me how to view foreign Ebay pages in english?? I click the 'translate this page' icon but it only works for the initial page not any subsequent ones. I thought I could muddle through with my limited knowledge of german but nooooo. Considering my frustration threshold is little-to-none my poor cat is in mortal danger!! (just kidding ~ don't go calling PETA )
Okay Christian - I have a question for you. Spy describes 5 and 10-"deutsch mark" coins dated during Third Reich days. My only German coin references are Krause and the link you posted (and I have bookmarked - thank you), both of which indicate that Third Reich coins were denominated in "Reichsmarks", as were the earlier Weimar Republic coins. At least in the 20th Century, I'm not seeing any coins in "Deutsch Mark" denominations until the 1950 Federal Republic coinage came along. So what am I missing?
My bad Roy, they are Deutsch Reich coins. I'm just used to Deutsch Marks and mistakenly called them marks. Sorry for the brain strain!
An "e". For some reason the post-war "Deutsche Mark" was usually called D-Mark in Germany but deutschmark in the US. Nitpicking aside, I don't think Nazi Germany issued any 10 (Reichs-)Mark coins. 5 RM was the largest denomination. @spybaby: I am not sure where that "Translate" button comes from ... What you can usually do with eBay is get an interface in your language. So if you search, say, ebay.de and come across something interesting, copy the item number, go to ebay.com and enter the number in the Search field. This will, however, not translate the seller's item description. For that you would have to use Babelfish for example. (If that is what the Translate button does anyway, then yes, it will only translate one page at a time ...) Christian
Okay Christian nit-pick away, I'm accustomed to it ~ I live with an anal retentive! But I will take issue with there being no 10 Deutsche Reichs cause I'm looking at it right now! It has all the same markings as the 5 but it's a 10 I promise! (it's about the size of a nickel) Is Babelfish better than systransoft?
Ah, then it's not a 10 Mark coin but a 10 Pfennig coin, I think. There should be the word "Reichspfennig" above the "10", though it may be a little difficult to read. (The nazi government used that Fraktur type of fonts until they "discovered" in 1941 or '42 that it was "Jewish" in some way. But at that point they apparently had other priorities than changing coin designs ...) Probably not -- on the http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/ page there is a "Powered by Systran" button ;-) Christian
Cool. I'll have to get better glasses or invest in a magnifying device! And since I'm already here.... I've got a coin I have NO idea where it's from. The front has Confoederatio Helvetica along the top and a bust of what appears to be a Queen, at the bottom is the date 1883. The back has only oakleaf garland surrounding the number ten and the garlands are joined by an bow at the bottom. Is this a Swiss coin??
Actually, you had a very correct idea. Yup. "Confoederatio Helvetica" is the official name of the "Swiss Confederation", which is called Switzerland in English. You have a copper-nickel 10 Rappen, KM#27, 2-million minted at Berne ("B" mintmark), $2 F, $6 VF, $20 XF, $75 Unc in the 19th Century Krause 3rd Ed. The lady is an abstraction representing the federation, much like our Lady Liberty or France's Marianne.
Let me just add that "Confoederatio Helvetica" is Latin. Not because the Swiss are so fond of ancient languages but because they have four official languages, three "major" ones (de-fr-it) and Romansh. That is also the reason why the Swiss coins have just an "Fr" on the franken coins, and the small pieces have no "unit name" at all: If they had to put something like "10 Rappen - Centimes - Centesimi" on all those coins, the pieces would not look neat ... Christian
Thanks guys! Actually this is my favorite coin for some reason; I keep it as my lucky coin. I intend to rid myself of all the other coins I've accumulated but not this little lady..she speaks to me. I have others that I'll be inquiring about, mostly marks & francs, in the coming days but you've quelled my curiosity about the coins I found most interesting. (There's another coin I have that's square but it's so worn I'm having difficulty identifying much.) I have oodles & oodles of American coins that I'm curious about that I look forward to picking your brains about as well. And, I wanted to thank you both for being so patient with me. It's nice to come in as a stranger and find such nice folks. (Christian~I'm sure I'll give you plenty of opportunity to nit-pick me in the future!! )
