German Third Reich Type Set

VERY INTERESTING QUESTION! Let me pull my books out, I'll get back to you.

Edit: I looked in reference and they all list all the Weimar Republic coins under such and the Nazi Third Reich Coins as such. And none of them mention why. They tell the story of Hitler's rise in 1933, but dont list coins until 1936. Hmm... conspiracy? nah....

 

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A typically American issue. If you want to collect "nazi coins" only, nothing else as far as German coinage is concerned, then include the Weimar Republic pieces that were also minted in the first years of the nazi regime. If you want to collect everything that was legal tender in Nazi Germany, you would have to include many more earlier coins. If you wanted to include "nazi style" coinage, you would also have to collect the pieces made during the allied occupation.

Collectors who focus on German Reich coinage (1871-1948) however would not have that problem. They would have the Weimar pieces in that "section", no matter for how many years the nazis continued this or that Weimar design. And of course that is how the catalogs are structured too ...

Christian

 

That's how Krause is. I find it strange that they would allow those coins to continue to be minted. It would have been like coins being minted in the Colonies with King George III on them after the end of the Revolutionary War.

I understand them still circulating...but still being produced is very strange in my eyes.

If it makes you feel better...I'm also interested in coin from the GDR. I find the government and history behind both the Third Reich and the GDR very interesting. I think that is why I am drawn to those coins.

 

One possible explanation is quite simple - replacing each and every coin in circulation with a new type is a time consuming (and costly) procedure. So taking your time makes some sense.

Another reason could be called continuity. Keep in mind that Hitler did not come into power through some military coup - he was appointed chancellor of a coalition government by the president. Yes, the nazis despised the Weimar Republic, but those coins simply say "Deutsches Reich", just as the later nazi coins.

Jaeger actually wrote that the brass 5 and 10 Rpf coins designed by Raemisch were criticized a lot in the first phase of the nazi regime. People complained about the "Jewish" symbols and references to freemasonry on the pieces. The Finance Ministry (of the nazi gov't) then said that Raemisch had had about a day for the designs in 1923, and that it was impossible to "hide" so many allusions in such a short time ...

Christian

 

This is true, he was appointed Chancellor and then began to consolidate power. But, they went out of their way to rid the country of symbols of the Weimar Republic...very quickly. It doesn't surprise me that they were minting them in 1933...but 1935! At the rate that those symbols were being abolished...I'm shocked that the money wasn't one of the first things changed (especially since money tends to have a, although unfair, connection to Jews).

 

Don't really care much about what others collect. I was primarily trying to explain why a coin catalog would list Weimar coin designs in the Weimar section, not elsewhere ...

Christian

 

I was just making a joke with that comment.

 

It definitely is interesting, (I'm a buff of WW2 History too :thumb, because Hitler definitely wasn't fond of the old Weimar Republic, but the heck if I could find an answer lol. I went back and looked through The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William Shirer) but couldn't find any mention of it.

 

It's just strange because reading about this era you find that they were very quick to change the flag back to the old Imperial red and black (and get away from the Weimar Flag) and change other commonly seen national symbols. Yet the money wasn't changed. Perhaps it was just something overlooked (but that doesn't seem right). It could have been a money thing (new equipment for new coins costs a lot more than flags)...who knows.

 

That was my first impression, that it was simply overlooked. Or it was possibly because Hitler didn't become the complete absolute ruler of Germany until after President Hindenburg died on August 2nd 1934. So maybe he waited until he had absolute rule before making the change. Then it would only have been a little over a year for a new design to be decided on, and put into production.

 

That is possible...except for the 50 reichspfennig which was minted with the Weimar design until 1938 (although they had a brief minting of a aluminum Third Reich design in 1935)...the 50rpf is the strangest coin of them all IMHO.

 

Excuse me but what the hell? I am one of the people who said that if you are collecting Third Reich coins then you collect the coins that were conceived by and for the Third Reich. This has NOTHING to do with how I collect and WHY I collect. I collect for exactly the reasons you mention...all of the above...visit my website if you like and see if I care about the history of the coin. I personally have a few coins of the Third Reich but don't collect them I have other focuses and wouldn't focus on those coins for many reasons. But this was a question asking for opinions so I gave it. I was unaware that my answer would be used to judge whether I was a serious collector and appreciated history or just a guy who liked 'cool stuff'

Still I would say Third Reich coins are coins conceived and minted for the Third Reich...like said above...even though the Weimar Republic is referred to as a republic, it was still officially the Deutsches Reich and called Weimar Republic only by historians referring to the place where the constitutional assembly took place. Certainly the Third Reich became rather quickly a one party state with the red and white flag with a black swastika on it. It was preceded by what we call the Weimar Republic and like said above...certainly it took time to switch over. If you choose to collect GERMAN REICH coins, all coins that happen to be minted during the Deutsches Reich, then include Weimar coins and many well before. IMO (and it is just an opinion mind you) if you choose to collect Third Reich coins, I would not include the Weimar coins. That's just me but I DO like to collect 'cool things'...I thought we all did? Why collect something you dont think is 'cool'.

I do not judge others for what they collect and I do not think any coin is 'taboo'...or people who are into Nazi Stuff. I own a few Third Reich coins but I find other times in history more interesting...like the earlier Earlier German Imperial, Pre-Imperial and princely states...and for some reason I am intrigued by Notgeld. I dont find Nazi Germany that interesting

 

Here is my Proof of the one-year type. -Preussen

 

That is a beautiful coin...thank you for sharing it.

The 50 Reichspfennig coin is a very interesting one because of Weimar coin was minted until 1938, yet the a new design was minted and issued by the Third Reich in 1935. However, another Third Reich 50rpf didn't come out until 1938 when it replaced the Weimar design for good.

Those who aren't familiar with these coins...here is the 50 Reichspfennig coins released while the Third Reich was in power.

Weimar Design (1933-1938) - Nickel , minted from 1927-1938

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Third Reich Design (1935) - Aluminum

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Third Reich Design (1938-1939) - Nickel

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Third Reich Design (1939-1944) - Aluminum

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I kinda took offense to that too. Very snobbish sounding.

 

So, are you saying you would not include all coins produced by the Third Reich but only those which they had a designed to reflected their ideology? Am I understanding correctly?

 

I once had a book, cannot recall the name of it now, but it was concerned with how authoritarian governments directed art and public designs in accord with their ideology.

It seems to me that the weimar 50 pfennig was not much of a departure from the subsequent hitlerian one, perhaps that is why it was not soon dropped from coinage.

 

Ahh Com'n just trying to get the debate to be more passionate... no offense meant.

 

Basically. But I can certainly see an understand why one would include so call Weimar coins minted under the Third Reich...if only to show the transformation. To me its all the Deutches Reich. IMO the THIRD REICH is much like the term Weimar Republic. Its more an unofficial name to represent a period within the Deutches Reich Era of Germany. More a concept to express The Nazi era as being a continuation of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire. Thus, IMO, a collection would include Nazi coins minted to represent this particular time period and ideology. One that represents the rise and eventual take over of Germany by the Nazi Party.

So I would be more prone to deem what would be called 'Nazi' coins as true Third Reich coins because I believe the term itself represents the Nazi Totalitarian State that took over the Deutsches Reich. If you are going to include so called Weimar coins...then you might as well just build a set of German coins that include all coins from 1871 to 1945 and just make it a Deutsches Reich collection.

This is just my opinion and certainly I might be way off on this. I don't know or care much about history though, I just like to collect cool stuff

 

I agree 100% with Drusus.

IMO the Drittes Reich is more than a period of time. In fact, history is more than just dates.

(And yes, I do like cool stuff )