1925-J German 5 Reichspfennig!

Ever wondered why the German 5 Pfennig coins made from 1949-2001 are brass plated-steel rather than a different metal? This coin is why. Following WWI Germany's economy quickly crashed under the heavy burden of the Versailles Treaty and German money became worthless. A fix was made which called for new coins and bills. This is one of the coins. Its predecessors were made of nickel and then zinc and finally aluminum-bronze, like this one. Zinc was then used again during the war but since it is more of an emergency/short lifespan metal, it had to be replaced with something else. So the government used the second most familiar metal (color) there was. Despite almost 11 Million of this coin being made and its worn state, this coin is still worth a couple of dollars. I would definitely pay $2.00 if I needed it for my collection.

1925-A German 2 Reichspfennig!

 All hail the Weimar Republic! It is because of them that Germany was able to produce this coin. Germany's economy was plagued by serious inflation during and after WWI when they began using the Papiermark. Often times wages earned in the morning would be worthless by the evening. Following the Weimar Constitution, a new Mark was issued which was worth 1 trillion times the Papiermark's value, thus ridding them of the inflation problem. Silver coins were reintroduced, though they were worth less than the old, pre WWI Goldmark coins. The above coin is worth about $0.50.

1876-D German 10 Pfennig!

Gotta love that eagle! Of course, it is better looking and not so skinny on the coins made after 1890, but it's still the German Eagle. Well, eagles. Like I said in this post, more worn examples can leave the un-experienced to wonder if the coin just has an endless chain of eagles on eagles, but it does not. This coin is made of copper-nickel and not silver because most European countries, excluding the U.K., had their dollar equivalent coins worth 1/5 of a U.S. Dollar. Evidence for this is here, here, here, and finally here with the U.S. Dollar. All of the coins are .900 silver and between 25 and 27 grams, yet the American Dollar has a lower face value. Lower face value and higher silver content leads to higher exchange value. So from all that I can assume that this coin's exchange value was around $0.02. It is now worth $0.50 which isn't far off from it's value back in the day as $0.02 in 1876 would buy $0.42 in 2012. See here.

1942-A German Pfennig!

 

It's been a while since I posted a Nazi coin. This is another of the "ugly" zinc ones and surprisingly, it has very little corrosion. This was issued a few years into the war when Germany stopped making bronze, aluminum-bronze, copper-nickel, and silver coins in favor of the more cheap and readily available zinc and aluminum. It features the infamous swastika which was a symbol of peace and good luck before the Third Reich. Now it's a fierce fashion statement that says "I hate Jews!" and is commonly worn by hate groups around the world. It also features a fancy font which I can't remember the name of on the obverse and one of the 30 million German eagle designs on the reverse. It's worth about $0.20 in this condition.

1914-A German Mark!

Look at those biceps! Who couldn't love Germany with an eagle like that? Well, apparently lots of people. This coin was minted the same year The Great War, or WWI, started. It was also the year Germany suspended the Gold Standard to finance the war. This suspension caused the hyperinflation Germany was notorious for in the early 1920's. Then Germany stabilized, Hitler came into power, Germany became poor again, Germany re-stabilized, and now they use the Euro, though some want the Mark back. Back to the coin. It was minted in Berlin as can be seen from the A mint mark, or should I say mint marks. The eagle has a smaller eagle on it and on the more worn coins it can leave the unfamiliar mind wondering how many eagles are on other eagles. In Mint State like this coin, we can see that there are just two eagles. And now that I've use the word eagle way too many times, I'll finish by saying that this coin is worth about $18.00.

Also, sorry for the late post. I've been sick as of late and have mostly been on my phone which is almost impossible to post from.

1939 2 Reichsmarks!

I've shown one of these before, but the picture was pretty blurry and that was over a year ago. One of these was featured, the other two I bought some time over the summer so I figured I might as well update. (A little My Coin Box Trivia: What day did I originally feature the first 2 Reichsmark and what was it's mint mark? Comment below.) Each of these are made of 0.625 silver or 62.5% silver and the rest is copper which is surprising when you consider there was huge inflation all over the world and especially in Germany during the Great Depression. Like I said in the other post they were issued to rally Nazi support by featuring Paul von Hindenburg on the obverse and the infamous Nazi Swastika on the reverse.

With a few exceptions, these coins are not rare but are heavily advertised as such. I've seen them on eBay with eye grabbers such as: XX RARE and SUPER RARE!!! which are usually not true. Each of these coins goes for about $6.00 and they are not rare at all. In fact, when I went and bought the first one it was in a case just lying around with about 50 others.

Happy Veterans Day!

German 2002-D 20 Euro Cent!

Got this in change in Germany a few years back. I really like coins like this because it says "I've been in circulation but I'm not completely tarnished." based on appearence. There is still that Nordic Gold (which contains absolutely no gold) color, but with some darkening. It adds a really nice, simple element to the coins beauty. On to the coin. The (in my book) obverse features the denomination and Euro Zone map while the reverse features the Brandenburg Gate as well as the date and mint mark. It is worth exchange value or $0.26.

2005-G German 5 Euro Cent!

BE SURE TO VISIT MY NUMISTA!

Just like the last two German coins I posted (1 Euro Cent & 2 Euro Cent) I got this coin in change in Germany so I'm not sure what to classify it as. It's got the G mint mark which means it was minted at Karlsruhe. German mint marks always confuse me because the letter doesn't correspond with the name of the mint, it corresponds with when the mint was opened. Visit here to see the German mints and mint marks from over the years. This coin has the same design as the German 1 and 2 Euro Cent coins with the exception of the change of size and denomination. They took care of the confusion problem by implementing some design features such as: making the 1 Euro Cent one of the smallest coins I have ever owned, putting a special edge on the 2 Euro Cent coin, and making the edges of the 10 and 50 Euro Cent coins reeded. The 20 Euro Cent coins have "dents" instead of reeding and 1 and 2 Euro coins are significantly bigger than this 5 Euro Cent coin making it almost impossible to confuse this coin with any other Euro coin. It's almost like they didn't want to do anything fancy for these 5 Cent coins so they did all of the fancy stuff for the other coins and left this one mostly plain. This plain coin is worth $0.10. Not quite sure if that's an increase or a decrease from late 2008-early 2009 Euro-Dollar exchange rate.

2008-F German 1 Euro Cent!

Got this in my change while I was in Gemany so I suppose it's a change find. I only say I suppose because  it is considered normal or common in Germany so I'm not sure what to label it. Anyway like I said it's common and only worth $0.05. There is one thing that that kind of surprised me about Euros: most dont state in plain (insert European language here) what country they're from. You have to know just by looking at the design. France and Germany are two examples although France at least puts RF on their coins. Greece would also be an example to people not familiar with Greek writing.

1922-D German 50 Pfennig!

This is the third and final German coin I bought at the flea market. Thanks to my anonymous knowledge doner down below in the comments I now know what the reverse says. It's "Sich regen bringt Segen" which means "Hard work brings its own reward". Other than that the design is pretty simple. Denomination, mint mark, date, country on the obverse and a nice little design on the reverse. As you can see on the first picture I paid $1.00 for this too bad for me it is only worth $0.10.

1922 German 5 Pfennig!

 

 Another German coin now enters the post region of my blog. According to my labels I have posted about German coins more than any other foreign coins. Hooray Germany! On to the coin. It has pretty sharp detail but I think it is discolored. There's a very nicely drawn/engraved eagle on the reverse and the same old boring stuff on the obverse. It is worth $0.10.

1941-A German 10 Reichspfennig!

Bought this historic coin at the flea market. If you notice the date or the Swastika you will notice it is from Nazi Germany. Nazi coins have always kind of interested me because they aren't usually seen and most people won't even buy or sell them. Even though they're not that rare they're still pretty cool. This one is only worth $0.20.

Bundesrepublik Deutschland = West Germany

Here is another coin I recently bought at the flea market. It is a 1950-F Bundesrepublik Deutschland or Federal Republic of Germany or West Germany 5 pfennig coin. If you have seen some of my previous posts you may notice I like to collect German coins. This is because I am an avid lover of history and coins and Germany has lots of history and has produced many coins in its historic times. I got it for $0.20 and it is worth $1.50.

Deutsche Demokratische Republik = East Germany

This is my recently bought 1971 Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic or East Germany 10 pfennig coin. I bought it to expand my large-ish but relatively non-growing German coin collection. I got it and three other German coins at the flea market which is where I get most of my collectible coins and bills. It only cost me $0.20 and is worth $1.00 so I would gain $0.80 if I sold it (although if I sold it I probably wouldn't get $1.00 for it).

One Last German Coin!

This is a 10 pfennig issued after WWII nothing special so this will be a short post. Dated 1950 with an "F" mint mark on it. Very cool design on both sides. Very simplistic and practical. Kind of reminds me of Seated Liberty American coins that had a simple design on the front and the denomination on the back... at least for the half dime and dime. This coin is worth just $0.10 in this condition.

Es lebe Deutschland!

After doing some posts on German coins I took a break and talked about various different things. I decided I would use this coin since I don't have time to take pictures and this is the only coin left on my computer's memory (I delete coins I have already done). It is my highest denomination German coin and is worth about $6.00 in AU which is what this one is. Хаппы Тханксгивинг!

New Look and Deutsche Marks!

As you can probably tell, I have "redone" my blog to give it a look more suitable for my passion. Yes I love currency too even if it isn't really mentioned or shown much on my blog. Anyway this is a 1950 1 Deutsche Mark from Germany (of course). I went into depth about the general history of the post-WWII German coins yesterday so check there if you want a history lesson. This particular coin is valued at about $1.50 although it could go for $2.00. I started my German coin collection with Euros and then found this coin and the coins I posted about yesterday about a year after I got my first Euros and I've been collecting ever since. This is one of my oldest foreign coins but as I mentioned in "Happy Birthday Canada!" my oldest is a Swiss 5 Rappen.

Post-WWII German Coins!

In 1949 and 1950  the world was in economic turmoil after the worst depression in American history and the worst war in world history. The 50's were a good time for America. There was lots of economic growth and population growth due to troops coming home and the baby boom era. In Germany people were coming from the front lines to discover no homes, no food, no water, and no money. The Nazi coins were being taken out of circulation and destroyed and exchanged for Deutsche Marks. These are 50 Pfennig coins which were Germany's equivalent to the half dollar. You may have noticed a difference in design on the bottom picture. The 1949 says Bank Deutscher Laender (the dots above the a in Lander are the equivalent of an E) and the 1950 says Bundersrepublik Deutschland. The 1949 is worth about $0.75 and the 1950 is worth about $0.50. These are my closest foreign coins to WWII except my 1939 2 Reichs Mark which actually circulated during WWII.

Coin of the Nazi Reich!

This is by far one of my most historic coins tied with my Gold dollar that I first posted about and a few other coins I will blog about in the future. It is a 1939-A Nazi 2 Reichs Mark. It is about 60% silver . Pual von Hindenburg who had recently died when this coin came out was put on this coin to rally support for the Nazi party. It is from the first year of WWII which is cool but it is not too rare. It is worth about $5-$12. Хаппы алмость Чристмас.

P.S. Paul von Hindenburg is not doubled it is just an unsteady picture.