saxony small denominations

laurentyvan

In conversation yesterday I was told that mid-19th century German States Saxony small demoninations in general (by example an 1863b 1 Neu Groschen) are difficult to find in a better grade. With a mintage of 1.514 million I wouldn't think it would be that difficult. The 2 Neu Groschen of the same year had about one third of that mintage-are these small denominations difficult in AU/UNC? Is current Krause pricing high or low on these coins?

CIVITAS

I imagine there is a certain amount of truth to that statement. The minor coinages would have been the "workhorse" coins and spent a lot of time in circulation. Therefore AU/UNC is probably hard to come by. As for value, I don't know. The Cat values for most 19th century German States coinage is a bit high, especially for the common stuff. I haven't had many Saxon minors much less in high grades for sale, so I couldn't comment on the true market.

coinkat

The biggest issue is that these coins do not seem to be in great demand... I like alot of smaller denominations from the German States and even though several are scarce... the demand just does not seem to be there. I don't understand why either.

spoon

This is something I moan about with the old-timers here.. there really isn't significant demand for the old small stuff. In America all people think about are the talers. Here, there's that effect, but more the people are into euros and modern German material. Now there are people that buy these things up. I haven't really bothered with Saxony because 1) I've never spent much time there and 2) there's just too many to focus on, not counting all the other Saxon lines.

As far as quality goes, they can be found in nice condition. Probably not easily in America. And in my part of the country I don't see too much (though that may be because I'm not looking). The thing is, despite the lower demand, prices can be high. I've only used a 1990 Krause ed but the prices are generally not too far off from it for the midgrade stuff. In the high grades German prices go nuts. Really you have to be able to haggle with the dealer unless you're comfortable paying the asking prices. Where you'll find most of the high grade stuff is at auctions.

Askari

I agree with Civitas and Spoon. It's out there and you can find it, but you have to hunt auctions and specialist dealers.