fun facts (?)
1. Hitler was always conscious of the appearance of his nose, considering it "Jewish looking".
2. He would not have any coins or metals made of his profile during the war years 1939-1945. He wanted to wait until he had "won" the war. So if you see any struck in Germany during those years, there is a better than fair chance that it is a fake.
3. I got it off
ebay almost 3 years ago and have been researching it ever since, when I finally came to the conclusion that it may be the only one in existence. There is no known record of a 11.74 gram weight Hitler (or any other leader in any other year in the series for that matter), nor is there any known examples that omitted the gram weight in the spot reserved for it on the medal).
4. One of Venezuela's bragging points after WW2 is that they "took in less Nazis than any other South American country". ?
5. The minters started with 14 war leaders in 1957 and worked it up to 18 by 1958. In 1959, the mint struck only proofs and only Hitler was featured.
6. Researching this medal was not a fun experience every moment. I have been met with doubters, liars, good folks, people who had not one clue about the medals but just wanted to say something nasty or be negative, and a lot of support from some very fine folks. I am now convinced that no other series had so much mis-information, ommisions, mistakes, confusion and contradictions between dealers, auction houses, coin websites and others to include Krause. One of the most obvious sources was an auction house who was selling an example, yet corrected its own listing twice at the bottom of their page.
7. Realizing what a firestorm this may provoke, nobody can ever convince me that ANACS overgrades their coins or medals based on my example. Your experience may vary. This is not an unusual feeling to state the obvious. I personally feel that it is a fair grade... altho I think a 64 or even a 65 would have been more to my liking haha. I am considering a crossover to PCGS if they would accept it.
8. While technically a medal, the series is sometimes listed in coin catalogs, and are often (mistakenly) sold as coins. A simple check on
ebay may reveal this. The value of these were determined by their bolivares values based upon gram weight stamped into the medal.
9. Venezuela did not put actual values on their coins until about 1961. Even Krause has a question mark in their "ND" designation about the Indian series that were running at roughly the same time period ending in 1961 The WW2 leaders series ran only in 1957, 1958, and 1959. There was a different obverse design for each year.
10. To make things really fun, a different mint and bank started to imitate this series... the WW2 leaders... at about the same time period. But they looked rather crude in comparison.
11. HA is considering accepting this metal for auction, however, they have a policy about banning listings with images of Hitler and the swastika, however, since this metal was minted in Germany some 14 years AFTER the 3rd Reich and not DURING it (1933-45), they are checking to see if an exception can be made. If not, there are plenty of other selling sites.... after all this time, there is no hurry.
12. scopu, I have not read your book. But your point leads to #13.
13. And that is all I got to say. If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is somebody who blabs on and on haha. You are fortunate. I could write a book about my researching experiences and I am sparing you from all the suffering and anquish. Thank all of you for your replies... Mike
Posted 12/28/2019 08:19 am
