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German States question

Been kind of out of the hobby for a while. Basically have been away for almost 2 years now. Not sure when or even if I'll ever be able to get back into it like I once was, now that I have to spend most of my money on medicine (a large part of why I have been away). But...to try and kind of get back into the hobby, I finally decided to compile a photo album of "One from Every Country" as some people do. And that leads me to the German States. Pre 1871 were they their own countries, each? What was the official name of the places that would one day be called Germany? Would they be considered part of the Holy Roman Empire if they are old enough? I only have one that could possibly be Holy Roman Empire- a Hamburg issue from 1765.
image

I want to do it right, historically. For instance I consider Czechoslovakia, Czech-Slovak Federal Republic and Czech Republic three separate entities, same place, (mostly) with three different official names. I have a Newfoundland issue from before it joined the country of Canada and that too is counted as it's own.

I know that the German States were issuing their own coins as well under unified Germany, but I don't have any in that time period. I only have five different German States in my collection, and four of them are represented by 1 coin each. Basically I am trying to figure out if they were one large country issuing different coins, or many small countries that became a larger one later. Thanks in advance!

Here's my favorite Prussia piece, which was a gift from a member of this forum years ago. image
Billy Kingsley ANA R-3146356 Cardboard History // Numismatic History

Comments

  • bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nice to see you back and hopefully things are ok.

    Cant help with your question but nice coins.
  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That's part of why I gave up on the OFEC (who knows, maybe I'll try again some day).

    I had too much trouble deciding how to define what I meant by 'country'. Any country ever? Any country that made coins? How far back in time? Does each governmental reform count (like 3rd vs. 4th for France)? UGH. Plus, once I started a country I found it hard to stop at 'one', so 'one from every country' became 'several from some countries, and what the heck is a country anyway'. I gave up. It does probably explain my fascination with Albanian coins. Nearly first in the alphabet in the 20th century Krause I was using.

    Welcome back image


  • AndresAndres Posts: 977 ✭✭✭
    Hi Billy, nice to hear from you again

    In a nutshell: Yes, before Germany became one country , it existed of many separate independent states, which had their own King, Duke , Prince or whatever.
    that second coin you got there is a key coin, its from King Wilhelm of the state of Prussia , he became the Emperor of a united Germany as Wilhelm the first.
    he was succeeded by his son, Emperor Wilhelm the second, who fled to the Netherlands in 1918 after Germany lost the first world war.
    after a troublesome time with hyperinflation , Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933.

    collector of Greek banknotes - most beautifull world banknotes - Greek & Roman ancient coins.
  • sylsyl Posts: 888 ✭✭✭
    I consider each "German State" coin prior to 1871 as a separate 'country" because, essentailly, that's what it was. Most of mine are pre 1850. B
  • BillyKingsleyBillyKingsley Posts: 2,661 ✭✭✭✭
    Thanks folks! image

    I was kind of thinking they should be counted as separate entities but wanted the input of people with more knowledge than I.

    For me I basically go by name- if the name changed, then I count it separately. (I only count France once) For me, as long as it exists it's fair game. My collection covers from circa 300 BC to 2014. Most is post-WWII though, I'd sure love to be able to get back into the past more. I mostly buy by the pound and you generally don't get a lot of vintage stuff there. Albania is actually a country I'm missing. My alphabetically first is currently Algeria. (Last is Zimbabwe- I'm not sure any even exist alphabetically later!)

    I actually resisted the idea of doing this for a while. Years now actually. I wanted to take a wider view of history. But I figure if I can't add anything at the moment, the least I can do is come up with new things to do with what I already have image I also am working on creating a photo album of one from each year, but I need to put that off until I finish scanning my US coins. Many years I only have represented with the USA and they are not all scanned yet. (I got a little burned out scanning all the post-1965 US coins, which are mostly all alike except for dates, years ago) I do have all my non-US coins scanned, I think. It's been a few years since I've done anything with my collection or even looked at the scans and I don't remember if all the Canadians are scanned. Everything else is done.

    Andres, that's why it's my favorite. image It's my only German coin of any kind to show an actual person. I tend to favor portrait coins. I actually plan to make another photo album and call it Portrait Gallery...I just havn't gotten to it yet! Too much to do, not enough time to do it in...
    Billy Kingsley ANA R-3146356 Cardboard History // Numismatic History
  • <<its from King Wilhelm of the state of Prussia , he became the Emperor of a united Germany as Wilhelm the first.
    he was succeeded by his son, Emperor Wilhelm the second,its from King Wilhelm of the state of Prussia , he became the Emperor of a united Germany as Wilhelm the first.
    he was succeeded by his son, Emperor Wilhelm the second,>>

    German emperor Wilhelm I was the grandfather of Wilhelm II., who did not become emperor until after the 100 day reign of his father, Frederick.

    German states coins are fascinating up to 1918. They continued to have local rulers on the coins on denominations of 2 marks and up.
  • 1509eric1509eric Posts: 43 ✭✭
    For try an easy and fast overview:

    - until 1806 Holy Roman Empire

    Holy Roman Empire

    - until 1866 German Confederation

    German Confederation

    - until 1871 North German Confederation

    Noth German Confederation

    - from 1871 German Reich

    German Reich


    Before 1871 there are so many different King, Prince, Duke, free Citys and other who all issue their own coins and currency. All these coins can not use in other parts.
    After 1871 (German Reich) Prussian King became Emperor of German Reich and they all together use same currency (Mark/Pfennig), but they still allowed to issue their own 1, 2, 3 and 5 Mark coins with their own pictures on one side from their part of country.

    For name some of the areas who issue own coins (not sure I list all)




    Kingdoms

    Prussia (Preußen)

    Saxony (Sachsen)


    Grand Duchies (Großherzogtümer)

    Hesse (Hessen)

    Mecklenburg-Schwerin

    Oldenburg

    Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach)


    Duchies (Herzogtümer)

    Anhalt

    Brunswick (Braunschweig)

    Saxe-Altenburg (Sachsen-Altenburg)

    Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha)

    Saxe-Meiningen (Sachsen-Meiningen)


    Principalities (Fürstentümer)

    Lippe

    Reuss-Gera (Junior Line)

    Reuss-Greiz (Senior Line)

    Schaumburg-Lippe

    Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

    Schwarzburg-Sondershausen

    Waldeck-Pyrmont


    Free Hanseatic cities (Freie Hansestädte)

    Bremen

    Hamburg

    Lübeck

    Before 1871 some parts like Schleswig Holstein belong to Denmark.
    They issue coins with the king of Denmark from that time. And some other part along the Rhine river have been part of France.
    collector from Germany
  • BillyKingsleyBillyKingsley Posts: 2,661 ✭✭✭✭
    I never even thought to check Wikipedia. I could read that for hours. Old time (Pre-World War 1) Germany I find so incredibly fascinating, but I know comparatively little about it. We have also been unable to figure out which place our family came from even after years of searching. It seems like my Hamburg coin was indeed part of the Holy Roman Empire, but also it's own place as well. I think I will count it as Hamburg instead of the Holy Roman Empire. Thanks again!
    Billy Kingsley ANA R-3146356 Cardboard History // Numismatic History
  • For post 1871 German kingdoms, you can add Bavaria and Wuerttemberg.
    For grand duchies, add Baden and Mecklen-Strelitz.
    Then there was the reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine.

    For state denominations, you can add 10 and 20 mark gold coins.

    1 mark coins were a national issue, not a state denomination.

    edit: I am having trouble getting all of the remaining states here, but I think I finally made it.l
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