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German States Coppers Of 1873 - Is It A Completeable Set?

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Pillar of the Community

Russian Federation
5178 Posts
 Posted 08/27/2013  09:56 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add january1may to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I've recently[1] been fascinated with the German States coppers[2] dated 1873. I feel these coins are kind of anachronistic; the German Empire was officially declared in 1871, and by 1873 first Imperial coins were minted (even in base metal) - but some states continued to put out their own money anyway, many in the old obsolete system.
By my approximations, there are around a dozen different coins[4] for that specification, maybe a dozen or so more billon issues (which, as I've said in footnotes, might or might not be included). I already have one - a 2 pfennig piece of Saxony (paid $11 for it, which in retrospect was probably too much).
My question is then: is it a completeable/affordable set, and if yes, how much is it going to cost me?

Just in case: if it turns out to be far too easy, I could extend this to include coins dated 1872 (another two dozen or so - some of them rare so I might have to ignore them). They aren't as anachronistic as 1873 coins, but still quite so; and they include the Mecklenburg series, which are doubly anachronistic in that they're also denominated in the German mark - a currency that wasn't officially introduced until 1873 (so, to the best of my knowledge, they're the first coins ever minted in that currency).
And just so you know, no, I don't particularly care about grade as long as the date, type, and mint is identifiable. Then again, all of these coins appear to be common enough that I won't need to go lower than Fine; and given their "anachronistic" backstory, I suspect they didn't circulate much anyway, so would be common in VF and higher.
Oh, and finally: this is a long-term project (as in, it might take years). Except that, unlike my other long-term projects[5], in this one I'm at least fairly likely to eventually finish (and yes, if you want I might consider putting photos of acquired coins here - maybe in this very thread - if it ever gets beyond 1-2 coins).

P.S. and sorry for such a long post





[1] last several months anyway
[2] I might or might not include billon issues - they're similar enough in idea, but some of these are supposedly rare, or at least very uncommon; I ignore large silver and gold entirely, as these coins continued to be made for individual states all the way until WWI; theoretically, there could be other base metal possibilities, but I didn't find any
I don't have any of these, yet, or at least none dated 1873; most of them are rare, but some of the 2 pfennig pieces might just be affordable
[4] counting all the Prussian mintmarks
[5] Russian 1 kopek type set, and theoretically some kind of US type set, are the only ones I can currently remember
Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts
 Posted 08/31/2013  07:07 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add chrisild to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
For a long time (starting in the 11th century or so) the Mark used to be a weight unit; especially the Cologne Mark became a sort of standard, also for silver. One such Mark was about 234 grams. Also, especially in Northern Germany, the Mark was used as a "coin of account", worth 16 Schilling. But even the 2 Mark coin was minted as a "32 Schilling" piece. (As far as I know, the early Russian Ruble also was such a coin of account first.) Anyway, before 1871 there had been a couple of more or less sucessful attempts at standardizing the money used in the German countries.

When the Deutsches Reich was founded in 1871, the country made the Mark its currency (law from Dec 1871). Right after that the first coins - dated 1872 - were minted; those were 10M gold coins though. The other denominations followed a little later: 1 Pf as from 1873, 5 Pf as from 1874, etc.

So the lower denominations simply stayed in circulation, and were even minted, for some time even after this standardization. The Mecklenburg coins (M.-Schwerin and M.-Strelitz) were also dated 1872, and "compatible" with the new system as far as their face values were concerned. (They even say e.g. "5 Pfennige / Zwanzig eine Mark".) But the law from July 1873 set the specifications for future German coins, and the Mecklenburg pieces did not meet those specifications. (In fact, all denominations from 1 Pfennig to 1 Mark could then not be state specific any more.) However, they could stay in circulation in the Mecklenburgs until March 1878 ...

The dates when the other "regional" coins were withdrawn vary (and I don't know about the precise deadlines). By and large, the "oddest" and least compatible denominations were taken out of circulation first. The last ones, certain Taler coins, continued to be legal tender until 1907.

Now as for how easy or difficult it is to put such a set together ... hopefully somebody else can answer that. :)

Christian
Valued Member
United States
211 Posts
 Posted 08/31/2013  2:37 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add JimmyJames to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I don't know exactly what that set would include, but the 'states' that minted coins in that year would seemingly be random. I would be interested in seeing a set of all of the last minor coins made by each of the German states before they formed the German Empire.

I know the Bavaria and Wurttemburg kreuzers were billon. I feel like a set from that time period would be incomplete if you didn't include larger states like those.

Generally speaking, it's affordable. Most of the coins can be had for <10 dollars each. Mint examples can be 20-50 dollars each.

I've tried to come up with a way to collect these German States coins and could never come up with a good set. Now I'm just collecting the Empire coins. They're so much more systematic and manageable.
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