German Empire proof 1/2 and 1 mark mintages

Greig

Does anyone have suggestions on where I can find reliable mintage figures for German half and one mark proof coins? Krause doesn't list them and I haven't had any luck on the Web finding them.

Any leads would be appreciated!

Thanks.

coinkat

I have not seen or heard of mintage figures for any German Proofs whether from the Imperial era or the Weimar Republic.

I have always been more interested in the surviving population. Trying to develop information on that angle is problematic as well.

JCMhouston

What coinkat said, I've even talked to a lot of specialist dealers in German and German States and no one seems to have any real ideas. It's really quite surprising to me, the Germans, generally being very efficient and good at record keeping, never seemed to take much care with things like mintage figures.

1960NYGiants

Ask Ron Guth. Owner of Germancoins.com and President of Coinfacts.

3Mark

I know that Ron doesn't know and unfortunately no one knows. I collect German minors in proof and I have spoken with almost all of the German mints and they do not know. The Kurt Jaeger catalog "Die deutschen Munzen seit 1871 has some proof mintages, but not many and some of these are questionable. The Krause has some also, but they used the Jaeger to get their numbers. BTW, the hardest in my opinion are the 10 pfennig zinc of 1917 to 1922. I have seen two in 12 years. My best resource is a Herbert Grun auction catalog from the 1990's that featured most Germany minors in proof and their rarity rating. My best guess is 100 or less on most 1/2 and one marks.

3Mark

coinkat

3Mark:

I would tend to agree with your estimates. And even if it could be established that the mintage is 100 or less, the key will be surviving population which creates even more speculation. I am not that confident that even past auction records and sales lists (to the extent that they exist) would even be that helpful.

Greig

I appreciate all of the responses! It is a shame there is not more data, but so it goes...

In the meantime, Happy New Year to all on the Forum. I am continually amazed at the high level of numismatic knowledge here and, perhaps even more importantly, the good cheer displayed.