I noticed that Germany has a huge range in coins from 1871-1948 all being called just Germany. I decided to dig a little further, without any knowledge in German history other than one semester of WWI history class in college, and found this great website with a vast amount of information about each time period and the corresponding name ranging from the year 911 all the way to present time.
Good reading, thank you. I very much regret the amalgamation of the different periods into "Germany 1871 - 1948". Although from a strictly historical viewpoint the reasoning was sound, from a collector's perspective it's most unwieldy.
I collect coins from the 3rd Reich period and have only a passing interest in coins from the earlier regimes and none at all for the post 1945 coins. I've always found the K&M solution of separating the periods, Germany - Empire, Germany - Wiemar Republic, Germany 3rd Reich followed by Federal Republic and Democratic Republic to be more in line with the thinking of most collectors. The Numista community saw fit to decide otherwise so I reckon I have to graciously accept that decision.
Unfortunately the changes to the currency don't quite match the regime changes so I'm constantly going back and forth over whether to include the Wheatsheaf minors, 1933 - 1936 and those very pretty nickel 50 Reichspfennigs. Common sense would say that all coins minted after 1933 are 3rd Reich coins but common sense was never really my thing. It just doesn't seem right to include designs which are clearly from the rotten Wiemar period.
One of the most intriguing aspects of a 3rd Reich collection is how political realities can be traced through the currency. The tiny and quite discreet Swastikas on the early silver coins are replaced by a much larger one as the NDSAP became more confident, before production was finally halted for the war effort. The nice looking minor coins are replaced by ugly ersatz zincs and as the Reich collapses towards Berlin the remote mints cease production one by one..... I can't think of any other series that has such a dramatic tale to tell.
I reckon there is no simple answer to the complexities of relating German history to numismatics and that every collector sees things differently. After much thought I've found what works for me and as I'm getting closer to a complete collection my custom made album is starting to take shape nicely.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
I wrote the the name of the era (if that's what's it called) in parentheses under Germany on all my 2x2 from 1871-1948 and that is enough for me to differentiate between them.
I will. A couple of folks have asked to see it so I'll get some photos once it's complete. I got as far as the 1 Reichmarks so I'd say that's 75% of the way there.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
There's no consistency. South Africa has been divided into "South Africa" and "South Africa Boer republic" yet has concurrent numbering across both entities (i.e. the last KM# for Boer republic is KM#11 and the first for south africa is KM#12) Which suggests they should be treated as a single entity.
Austria has been divided into Austria and Austria-Habsburg even though the catalogue numbers run right through both entities, suggesting they be treated as a single entitiy
Germany has catalogue numbers that run through German Empire, Weimar republic and third reich, but they have been kept together in the catalogue.
Sorry Neil, but I cannot agree with you here on South Africa, no matter hoe Krause numbered it. With hindsight I found Boer Republics not the best choice, but it allowed to keep the Orange Free State patterns and tokens on board. But the South African Republic that existed from 1852 until 1902 was a separate country, concurrently with the British Cape Colony. They were forcefully annexed to form the Union of South Africa which only started issuing coins from 1923.
Though the names are confusing they are more apart than Congo and Zaire. And hence I find it consistent that they are treated as different countries. If for any reason the Boer Wars never happened then there would have been a SAR and a Cape Republic today as separate countries and nobody would dispute the separate listing of its coins.
The Austria case is different but no less complex. Still I don't mind them being apart just for the ease of lookup.
But on-topic I have archived my German coins the following way:
- Empire goldmark: 1873-1914
- Papiermark: 1914-1923
- Rentenmark: 1923-1924
- Weimar Republic: 1924-1933 (but includes some types struck after Hitler's power grab)
- Third Reich 1933-1940 and 1940-1945
- Allied occupation Reichsmark 1945-1948
- Allied occupation DMark 1948-1950
- Federal Republic DMark 1950-2001
- German Euro 2002-date
So it's a bit of a mix of coin and political eras.
-
If that is the case then Germany needs to be divided up. I'm just looking for consistency across the catalogue. Something that seems seriously lacking on this site.
Whenever I bring up an instance of something that has been handled inconsistently across the catalogue the same line is trotted out "It's up to the individual referees how they handle their sections"
How screwed up would Krause be if this was the case there? Whoever was working on a particular section could number the coins or omit coins from their section depending on a whim. We need hard an fast rules that referees need to adhere to, this will ensure that every country is treated the same way.
Quote: "jokinen"But on-topic I have archived my German coins the following way:
- Empire goldmark: 1873-1914
- Papiermark: 1914-1923
- Rentenmark: 1923-1924
- Weimar Republic: 1924-1933 (but includes some types struck after Hitler's power grab)
- Third Reich 1933-1940 and 1940-1945
- Allied occupation Reichsmark 1945-1948
- Allied occupation DMark 1948-1950
- Federal Republic DMark 1950-2001
- German Euro 2002-date
So it's a bit of a mix of coin and political eras.
-
Yeah Notgelds are a complete extra chapter on their own. Very interesting but I never collected a single piece so far. Maybe I will some day.
The Democratic Republic of Aluminium Coins is also a completely different chapter on its own. It was an amazing social engineering experiment never to be repeated.
Quote: "neilithic"If that is the case then Germany needs to be divided up. I'm just looking for consistency across the catalogue. Something that seems seriously lacking on this site.
Whenever I bring up an instance of something that has been handled inconsistently across the catalogue the same line is trotted out "It's up to the individual referees how they handle their sections"
Well, we could force something on the referees, but you can imagine that they might not be happy about it. With new system, there could be some room for Germany reorganization into more groups.
Quote: "Jarcek"Well, we could force something on the referees, but you can imagine that they might not be happy about it.
Yes, but sometimes that is needed. Sometimes leaders have to make decisions that, although not popular with their subordinates, are the right decisions for the greater good of the cause. I know I'm starting to sound like the new Imreh, but I really think that there should be a set list of guidelines, and referees are forced to adhere to them to ensure that there is uniformity through the catalogue.
The areas I am thinking about most that need set guidelines are:
The way varieties are listed
The way that trade tokens that were accepted as coinage are listed
The division of countries
The terminology used when metals are entered
The way items like notgeld/French cities/jetons etc are listed
The exonumia/tokens sections (are we still accepting entries? have we decided on anything that can be removed and not accept any more of the same type? is there a better way to organise them?)
