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 Replies: 9 / Views: 7,565 |
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Valued Member
United States
164 Posts |
I have a quick question, I was hoping someone could help me understand the difference between the German two pfennig's that were made 1950 to 1970. In the krause catalog, Some of the coins are listed as "Bronze", While the others are listed as "Bronze clad steel", with some having matching dates and mintmarks. I was wondering how to tell the difference between these two types of coins.
Thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
... I thought they were all copper plated steel...
But I bet the best way to check is with a magnet.
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Valued Member
 United States
164 Posts |
Same, I did also until I happened to notice that there were two different listings in the Krause catalog for 2 pfennigs, unlike the rest of the coins, and I looked closer and noticed the difference in the description. (As well as the large difference in the values!) (Oh, and is uploading a image from the krause book allowed? if not, i'll remove the below image immediately.)  Edit: Hah, Thanks wd1040, That magnet trick worked perfectly, I tested a magnet on some 2 pfennigs I had, And half of them were magnetized, the other half were not, worked perfectly  Edited by JOE
03/26/2009 02:52 am
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Moderator
 Australia
16859 Posts |
Indeed, the easiest way to tell them apart is with a magnet. But if you don't have a magnet handy, look at the edge; clad steel coins will look much like your 1943 steel cents or post-1965 clad "silver" coinage - the edge would have a "sandwich" look to it, with copper on top and bottom with steel (which, for well-circulated coins, is often rusty) showing in the middle.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
That magnet test you would only have to do with the 1968 coins. The 2 pfennig pieces from 1950-1967 are bronze (Cu95 Sn4 Zn1), 1968 can be both (also depends on the mintmark), and 1969-1996 are copper-plated steel, just like all 1 pfennig coins.
Christian
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Valued Member
Australia
432 Posts |
It was always 'weird' they did that, release the 'new' 2Pfg in the old (pre 1940) composition. Although, I have heard that some people claim this was because by 1950, the government had continued to recover the pre-1940 Third Reich and Weimar 1 and 2Rpf (and possibly some older Kaiserreich and foreign types as well) and it was economically viable to reprocess the material back into coins! Whether this is true or not, I do not know - but it is logical at least!
However, I believe the mints and blank manufacturers were opposed to this as it reduced the level of standardisation and would in time, increase costs. If I remember right, VDM (Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke) lobbied very hard for standardised 1 and 2 Pfg materials...
Additionally (Chrisild should be able to help me here), there was a change in design on the 2Pfg too, from the 'alte' to the 'neue' type sometime in the last 1960's or early 1970's?
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
While we're on the subject ... how many of the 1950-dated pfennigs (1, 2, etc.) were actually minted in 1950? All of them? Or did Germany just stamp 'em out until the dies wore out and only then changed the date? Seems as if I've seen literally hundreds of the 1950-dated coins, more than all other dates combined.
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Valued Member
Australia
432 Posts |
The '1950' (and in some cases '1951') coins were minted over a variety of periods, between 3 and 15 years, if I remember correctly from the research I've been doing.
Its not really an issue of die life however, as typical die life (from memory - have figures somewhere tho) was about 200,000 - 300,000 coins. While I havent YET found complete documentation that confirms the reasoning behind all this, some official/semi-official documents state it was simply a legal issue; you'll notice that the coins derivative from the BdL coins all remain marked as '1950' until '1966' coins appeared. The story goes that the fact that the legal texts explicitly state a year of '1950' on the new Bundesrepublik Deutschland coins, restricted the mints to only producing 1, 5, 10 and 50Pfg for '1950'.
As for what was produced and when, thats a whole other story...
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
Quote:
there was a change in design on the 2Pfg too, from the 'alte' to the 'neue' type sometime in the last 1960's or early 1970's? Not a new design, just new master dies. The "first generation" was worn after about 20 years, so new ones were made. Those showed some details a little better or at least differently. But since the relief was fairly flat, there were a few minor changes in the mid-1970s. And yes, 1950 was used for all 1, 5, 10 and 50 pfennig coins made between 1950 and 1965. Other denominations got the "actual" dates earlier: 2 Pf in 1958, 1 DM in 1954, 5 DM (first date was 1951) in 1956. Quote:
The story goes that the fact that the legal texts explicitly state a year of '1950' on the new Bundesrepublik Deutschland coins And you don't believe the "story"?  Look here: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/m...8800950.htmlThis regulation refers to the four denominations which were already in circulation as "Bank deutscher Länder" coins, ie. 1, 5, 10, 50 Pfennig. Ah well, today's coins are a similarly mixed bunch. The German euro and cent pieces dated 2002 were actually made between 1998 and 2003, so coins which have that year are much more common than later pieces. Christian |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
Quote:
And yes, 1950 was used for all 1, 5, 10 and 50 pfennig coins made between 1950 and 1965. ahhh... so that's why I have so many 1950 pfennig coins! |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 7,565 |
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Posted 03/26/2009 02:47 am
