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Posted 08/02/2010 2:56 pm
Jeff, you're quite right about the relative rariety of Kaiserreich silver; I'll start from the top though.
The existance of decent quantity of Kaiserreich silver can be explained by one event, WW1. The German people recognised the 'Physical' value of Silver and began to hoarde these coins. They the time they were demonetised after thje war, their metal value far outweighed their monetary value; thus people held onto them.
Kaiserreich coins are different. Most of these coins were demonetised in early-mid 1930's (1933/4), with the 1933 Monetary Reform (essentially, reducing the size of the coins (although keeping the precious metal content of the 2RM and 5RM) because lets face it, the KR (Kaiserreich) 5M and WR (Weimarer Republik) 5RM are BIG coins AND withdrawing the silver 1RM and 3RM (to be replaced by a Nickel 1RM).
This was a period of relative financial stability and growth with the reforms that the NSDAP Government introduced which continued Germany's impressive emergence from the Depression.
THUS, people were not at all bothered about exchanging their old Silver Coins for New Silver Coins (which in the case of the DR (Drittes Reich) 2RM and 5RM, had the same Silver content anyway) - so unfortunately, we have a lower surviving rate of WR (Weimarer Republik) types!
The same pattern happened in WW2; the German People wise to the effect of war, begin and continued to hoarde the silver coins (despite attempts by the Government of the time to recall them for trade purposes, the Allies attempting to recover them after the war through legislation and later the Bundesrepublik attempting to recover them); thus, we also have a glut of DR silver - most of the DR Silver Types are pretty easy to find and not XXXRARE as so many people try to tell you...
The existance of decent quantity of Kaiserreich silver can be explained by one event, WW1. The German people recognised the 'Physical' value of Silver and began to hoarde these coins. They the time they were demonetised after thje war, their metal value far outweighed their monetary value; thus people held onto them.
Kaiserreich coins are different. Most of these coins were demonetised in early-mid 1930's (1933/4), with the 1933 Monetary Reform (essentially, reducing the size of the coins (although keeping the precious metal content of the 2RM and 5RM) because lets face it, the KR (Kaiserreich) 5M and WR (Weimarer Republik) 5RM are BIG coins AND withdrawing the silver 1RM and 3RM (to be replaced by a Nickel 1RM).
This was a period of relative financial stability and growth with the reforms that the NSDAP Government introduced which continued Germany's impressive emergence from the Depression.
THUS, people were not at all bothered about exchanging their old Silver Coins for New Silver Coins (which in the case of the DR (Drittes Reich) 2RM and 5RM, had the same Silver content anyway) - so unfortunately, we have a lower surviving rate of WR (Weimarer Republik) types!
The same pattern happened in WW2; the German People wise to the effect of war, begin and continued to hoarde the silver coins (despite attempts by the Government of the time to recall them for trade purposes, the Allies attempting to recover them after the war through legislation and later the Bundesrepublik attempting to recover them); thus, we also have a glut of DR silver - most of the DR Silver Types are pretty easy to find and not XXXRARE as so many people try to tell you...
