Do you have any Lodz Ghetto coins?

xphobe

This isn't a BST offer, I am just trying to get an idea how difficult they are to come by.

lordmarcovan

I wish.

I think I have seen one or two for sale over the years, but can't remember with any clarity.

MacCrimmon

Yes, 1jester has one each of the 5 and 10 mark coins, dated 1943. Both are unc.

He would know better as to the real scarcity in high grades, but I suspect they are very difficult to locate nice. They were featured in JC-199 and JC-25.

1jester

Not very easy to come by, but they're out there. Fakes are out there too, so be careful.

These are aluminum, and they're very difficult to locate in uncirculated. But even harder to find are the magnesium pieces, in general.

bosox

I can't overestimate the quantity of forgeries out there. I would guess that for every ten or twenty I see offered for sale, one is real.

FilamCoins

Can someone please translate the reverse?

Thanks

1jester

<< <i>Can someone please translate the reverse?

Thanks >>



Sure, the reverse says "Receipt for 5/10 Marks" and "The oldest of the Jews in Litzmannstadt". Litzmannstadt was the Nazi name for Lodz, Poland's second-largest city and center of the textile trade from the early 19th century till WWWII. From what I understand, the reference to the oldest of the Jews is the Elder, a man who was appointed by the Nazis as administrative head of the Ghetto.

bosox

Link to info on the Lodz Ghetto.

Conder101

Yes, I have a full set (not including both Al and Mg varieties) including the first 10 pfennig coin that was withdrawn because it was too similar to the German 10 pfennig coin. That with drawn piece is probably the toughest one to find. Neither the replacement 10 pfennig or 20 mark coins are easy either. The 5 and 10 mark are scarce but are available from time to time. The 10 pfennig is scarce because by the time it was issued it's value was too low to be useful. The 20 Mark is rare because it was introduced just 15 to 20 days before the getto was liquidated. According to stories most of the pieces known today were recovered from along the railroad tracks where the jews dropped them out of the train because they knew that there would be no need for them where they were going. The reason the magnesium varieties are rare is because they were supposedly used as fire starters (possibly also for incendiary devices). Magnesium catches fire easily, burns extremely hot, and can't be extinguished with water.

worldcoinguy

Good thread.....I love learning new things on this forum!

dcarr

What is the general opinion of this coin ?
I recently picked it up at a local coin shop.
It came into the shop with a collection of mostly Czechoslovakia coins.
If genuine, it is likely the finest known of this type:

All the minute die details seem to match the example (in bronze) shown on the PCGS website:
https://pcgs.com/valueview/lodz-ghetto/1942-10-pfg-km-tn5-var-bronze-bn/4987?sn=524230&h=pop

.

atom

There's an interesting read on these coins authored in 1965 by Maurice Frankenhuis, when he donated these coins to the Jewish Museum in New York: frankenhuiscollection.com/the-jewish-museum-new-york/

Lodz Ghetto coins donated to Jewish Museum in New York, 1965

__During the World War 1939-1945 the words “concentration camp” became words of fear. Unlike prisoner-of-war camps and internment camps which gave at least some recognition of the rules of war, concentration camps were slave labor and death camps, with the emphasis on death. Other than political prisoners, the bulk of the concentration camp inmates was comprised of races that the rulers of Germany seemed determined to eradicate, with the Jews in first place.

Six million died in these camps, the result of starvation, brutality, shooting or gassing. Slave labor while alive wasn’t enough; when dead the hair and gold teeth fillings were removed as strategic materials for Germany.

There were 30 major concentration camps plus smaller and temporary ones. The largest camp was Auschwitz in Poland, the major extermination camp. The gas chambers at Auschwitz could accommodate as many as 2,000 persons at a time, and eventually they were gassing on peak days as many as 17,000 a day. Besides this, 8,000 were deposited in death pits after having been slain by clubbing, bayoneting and shooting. This is only a tiny hint of the horrors perpetrated in these camps. Even the Germans in charge of these camps sometimes could not “stomach” it. However, at other times S.S. men literally competed to participate in the gassing because, besides getting money for killing the Jews (salary according to the number of victims), they received special rations, i.e., five liters of alcohol, five cigarettes, 100 grams of sausage and bread.

The camps did not look frightful; the flowers and lawns were neatly kept and the gas houses bore signs reading “Baths.” The unsuspecting victims were asked to go into the houses and strip for a bath and delousing, usual in such camps. At times this was done to the accompaniment of music. Once inside, those about to be exterminated found that not only was it too crowded for a bath, but the doors had been sealed shut and no water was coming from the ceiling pipes. Instead, cyanide or prussic acid crystals were dropped from a small opening in the roof. After a half hour when the screaming had stopped, the gas was pumped out, the doors opened, and men in gas masks pried the bodies apart, removed gold fillings, and sent the bodies to specially built crematoria complete with electric hoists for moving the corpses to the furnaces. It was the smell from the wholesale use of these crematoria that informed people living in the area that something was amiss at an otherwise peaceful looking prison camp. The ashes were later dumped in the river, although it has been stated that some were sold as fertilizer.

In many prison camps paper notes were issued. There were only three coins struck for the Jews and this was for the Ghetto in Litzmannstadt (Lodz, Poland), v.1.2. with denominations of 5, 10 and 20 Marks. There was much taboo about the pattern of these coins Oak leaves and similarities appearing on German coins unacceptable to the Germans. The first was a proof only while the others, which had the year 1942 engraved in the David-magen (six-pointed star design, was in circulation from December, 1942, on.

The German Ghetto commissar, Biebow, had disqualified the design of the proof sent to him; in the summer of 1942 the Elder of the Jews sent a second design to Biebow for acceptance. This, too, was unacceptable to the commissar, who wrote in a letter dated August 21, 1942: “The new design of the 10 Mark metal receipt (Quittang) is too complicated. The Jewish coat of arms is inconceivable on a Ghetto coin. The 10 Mark metal receipt must be simple, as I indicated to you in my letter of June 26, 1942. Your design is returned to you. Biebow”

As a result of this second rejection, work was begun on a third piece at the Ghetto mint. The design proved acceptable to Commissar Biebow, who wrote in a letter: To the Elder of the Jews, Litzmannstadt, Ghetto. Re: Minting of Ghetto coins. The design of the Ghetto coin I received is all right. You may mint it without delay. Biebow” This acceptable coin was minted in a quantity of one million pieces by December, 1942. All of these coins were struck in electron, an easily-flammable alloy salvaged from destroyed Nazi aircraft which was delivered to the Ghetto.

There were many hardships for the people; there was little bread, no coal, wood or other fuel. The 889 Jews who survived the Lodz Ghetto used the coins to make fire in their kitchen. Virtually all the 5, 10 and 20 Mark coins were thus consumed by flames, the purpose being to make warmth. Therefore these specimens are very scarce.__

bosox

The best book I have found on these is this one:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30237854883&cm_sp=Searchmod--NullResults--BDP

It says that authentic 10 pfenning coins of the design shown by Dcarr all have a small raised square in the legend between the words Litzmannstadt and Der.

Sapyx

I bought one of the 10 mark coins a few years ago (though not as long ago as the OP's post!), from a local dealer. I had it checked by another dealer who travels to Europe often to buy coins and who seemed to be knowledgeable about how to spot the fakes; he reckoned it was legit.

TwoKopeiki

A number of 5 and 10 Marks were just listed already in PCGS plastic, if anyone is looking for an example.