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Germany (Imperial): silver half-mark, 1916-A

Germany (Imperial): silver half-mark, 1916-A







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Obverse: German imperial eagle within oak wreath, "A" (Berlin) mintmark below.



Reverse: DEUTSCHES REICH, denomination within oak wreath, date below.



(I consider the eagle side of Kaiserreich coinage to be the "obverse", but PCGS holdered it the other way 'round. Since they put the side with the country name forward, some tradition does support them.)



Berlin mint, KM17, 20 mm, .900 silver/.0801 oz. PCGS MS65, cert. #33533113. Ex-Ron Guth (germancoins.com/eBay), 8/31/2016.



This is a common and therefore inexpensive coin. At the time I bought it, I had sold two much more expensive pieces out of my Box of 20 in order to upgrade my photographic equipment, so I was in need of a couple of less expensive "filler" coins to fill the gaps. This fit the bill perfectly. As cheap "filler" coins go, you can't do much better than this: it's a hundred-year-old silver coin in Gem Mint State grade with attractive toning, already in the latest-generation PCGS holder (Secure Plus with TrueView images), all for less than 32 dollars delivered! So despite the temporary "downgrading" of my set in terms of numismatic value, I didn't sacrifice much at all in eye appeal, and this piece can come and go out of the Box of 20 when I'm in need of a temporary but attractive space-filler while the set is in transition (after coins have sold or are out for grading, etc). This coin also has interesting historical associations for the centennial of some of the worst battles of World War I, in which Imperial Germany was of course one of the major combatants.



Miscellaneous links:

Larger image (1600x1000)

PCGS cert verification page (w/Trueview image link)

NGC/Krause priceguide listing



Wikipedia links:

German Empire (Kaiserreich)

1916 (historical events of the year)







When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.






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