Germany-Democratic Republic.

5 mark 1969, nickel-bronze, mintage - 50222000 pcs. "20th Anniversary of GDR".

 

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I'll continue later.

 

What I have always found odd is that the GDR 1 Mark coin (Al, issued since 1956) was very similar to the Federal Republic's 1 DM coin (Cu-Ni, issued since 1950). See the attached image, from worldcoingallery.com photos. Why would they want to have pretty much the same design?

As you showed, most GDR circulation coins were aluminum pieces - the 20 Pfennig brass coin was a somewhat odd exception. Maybe because that composition worked better in payphones, don't know.

Christian

 

Ah, found an image of that "Kommissariat Ukraine" pattern.
http://www.mcsearch.info/record.html?id=85463

Christian

 

The Soviets and their east German puppets made a fortune out of occupied Germany having a single currency. The decision of the Western zones in 1948 to issue a new currency that excluded the Soviet zone devastated its economy. It also led directly to the Western zones forming an independent nation - the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD) - in 1949, that excluded the Soviet zone.

In the same year the German Democratic Republic (DDR) was proclaimed in the Soviet zone, but did its best to maintain the fiction of a single, German currency. Upon finally admitting failure in 1956, East German currency began to mention the DDR and later ceased mentioning the Deutsche Mark.

 

Sure, the division of Germany was a result of the "cold" war between the US and the USSR. But that does not really explain why a GDR coin first issued in the mid-1950s (and thus quite a while after the "split"), a coin which did have the country name on the other side, would still resemble the Western DM. Had they done that during the Allied occupation, or with the first pieces (late 1940s/early 1950s) which simply said "Deutschland", it would have made some sense to me. But in '56?

I have quite a few commems from the GDR, partly because they commemorated quite a few occasions that the Federal Republic commemorated too, and I find it interesting to compare the designs. The GDR circulation coins are fairly dull, but many of their commemorative pieces are well designed.

Christian

 

5 mark 1971, copper-nickel, mintage - 4000000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "Brandenburg Gate". Coins of this type were minted in 1971-1990.

 

5 mark 1972, copper-nickel, mintage - 3500000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "City of Meissen".

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10 mark 1974, copper-nickel, mintage - 3000000 pcs. Berlin Mint. "25th Anniversary of GDR".

 

10 mark 1990, copper-nickel-zinc, mintage - 747000 pcs. Berlin Mint. "International Labor Day".

 

20 mark 1971, copper-nickel, mintage - 2000000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "100th Anniversary - Birth od Heinrich Mann".

 

20 mark 1971, copper-nickel, mintage - 2500000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "85th Birthday of Ernst Thalmann".

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The GDR had two types of commemorative coins by the way: Pieces that would (at least to some extent) circulate, and those that were primarily made for collectors in other countries. The "circulating" ones were not all that difficult to get for people in the GDR, but in order to get others - especially the 10M and 20M silver coins - you had to be "organized" in some collectors club from what I have read.

The 5M coin with the Brandenburg Gate is interesting for at least two reasons: First, while they used the gate as a symbol of Berlin, the area was "off limits" between June 1961 and December 1989. Also, the GDR coins show it with the "empty" wreath and a flag at the top (as it had appeared since the mid-1950s), while the current German coins http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/images/image8597.gif show the gate as it is now, with the Prussian eagle and cross again.

Christian

 

20 mark 1972, copper-nickel, mintage - 3000000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "Friedrich von Shiller".

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20 mark 1972, copper-nickel, mintage - 2500000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "Wilhelm Pieck".

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20 mark 1973, copper-nickel, mintage - 2500000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "Otto Grotewohl".

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20 mark 1979, copper-nickel, mintage - 1000000 pcs. Minted in Berlin. "30th Anniversary of GDR".

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That is all.

 

I like the May Day one best. Good stuff.

 

English coins called their monarch "King of France" centuries after the French chased them off the continent. Coins are politics as much as they are money.