German States

BillyKingsley · June 18, 2010 8:09AM

As some of you guys know from my past posts, I really like German coins. I think they have really interesting designs, and Germany ranks 4th most coins in my collection. About 1/4th of them are WWII era that were brought back from the war by one of my relatives who served there, although it's unknown who as 4 served in WWII and we have no way to know who brought them back.

Until recently, however, I had not had any from the German States, all my German coins were from the unified period. (Or at least Empire or later!) Then, through more luck than anything else, I got my first four German States coinage in a week's time! I didn't know what one of them was when I bought it but I figured it out in a short amount of time!

I am also partly at least from German descent. (A lot of things make up me). The German side of my family is somewhat rare and obscure...there are only 10 family units in Germany today with the name, and it is guranteed that if you have that last name and live in America, you are related to me! We have been having a hard time finding out exactly where in Germany my family came from, but that will tie in with the last coin I post, also in my opinion the nicest...and certainly the oldest.

The first two are from Prussia. I bought these sight unseen from the BST on this board.
Prussia 1845 A 3 pfennige

Prussia 1870 A 1 pfennig

The next coin I pulled from a local dealer's assorted world coins bin. I didn't know what it was when I got it, but I knew I could not pass up a coin from 1820 at this price!

Hesse-Cassel 1820 1/24th of a thaler

And now, this last one. I saw it in the same local dealer's display case, and I knew I would be bringing it home if I could afford it! As it turns out, I could, even though it is now tied for the second most I've ever spent on a single coin at $25. I am not 100% sure about it's details yet...My reference material only goes back to 1850...but I believe it to be a 4 shilling issue from Hamburg. It just looked so good to me I fell in love the instant I saw it!

I played a joke on my brother, when I got home, and told him I had gotten a Hamburger. (we also stopped to bring home lunch). He knows I have not eaten a real hamburger since 2002, I just don't like them. But, the joke was on me, because he quickly told me that his latest round of research-done earlier that day, while I was out-is leading him to the strong possibility that my family was in actuality originally from Hamburg!

It is also the 9th oldest coin in my collection.

Hamburg 1765 4 shilling (?) I don't know what the O-H-K means at the center bottom of the obverse.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I will be able to add to this collection-and maybe the post-from time to time! I am sorry that all I can provide are scans and that some of them are crooked...I am working on that!

ormandh · June 18, 2010 9:06AM

I like them a lot, Billy! This set is a fun to pursue! -Dan

Rickc300 · June 18, 2010 9:14AM

O H K is the mintmasters initials...Otto Heinrich Knorre

$25.00 is a good price, I would have paid more for that coin if it were offered to me. And yes you are right, it is a 4 shilling and is .562 fine silver with an actual silver weight of .0551 OZ. The KM# is 186

Shoot me a PM anytime you want more info on a German state coin (or any German coin for that matter) and I will do my best to help you out with it.

I too, am a mutt with Austrian, German, Irish, Native American (Sioux and Ute) Polish and Russian blood coarsing through my veins...

Rick

Edited to add info and correct spelling, Dang those fingers with a mind of their own~

spoon · June 18, 2010 10:10AM

Great stuff! I love finding old cheapos in a dealers' lot

I've had a similar problem with most of my German-American family lines... I just can't find a connection on the other side. We think my direct paternal line originated in the area south of Heidelberg, but the records from 1752 are murky. I do have one interesting German line going back to a Johannes Lichtenberger, who was apparently the court astrologer to Frederick III. Genealogy is fun, good luck on your search!

JimK · June 18, 2010 10:36AM

Congrats Billy! Very nice pickups and it's nice to see others collecting German!
I think RickC and I must be related somewhere down the line as I also have German, Polish and Austrian.

Like Spoon said- Genealogy is fun especially when you work so hard and then succeed in finding that elusive ancestor!
Enjoy!

Jim

JCMhouston · June 18, 2010 11:04AM

Very nice, and German States are a good thing to pursue. You can collect them for the next 50 years and never find them all.

Zohar · June 18, 2010 11:29AM

very nice Billy. Lots to pick from. I started with minors and ended up with Talers. Good theme.

BillyKingsley · June 19, 2010 7:48AM

Thanks for the comments guys! I have really been enjoying these!

Thanks Rick for the Mintmaster's name...I know that is at least fairly common on world coins but this is, I believe, the first example in my collection to have that. It seems to be more of a thing of the past.

I have a lot of different stuff that makes up me as well...I most closely associate with the Italian side but German, English, Indian (Montauk tribe), Dutch, Russian (or perhaps Belarus) possibly some others too...it's very hard to find some of this info! My brother has been working hard on the family tree for the past year+...he's got some lines tracked back to the 1700s fully, within a few missing links of back to the 1500s in others, yet some of the lines he's still trying to get past the 1890s! Like coin collecting, it's a hobby/process that likely won't ever end!

Zohar, I always make sure to look at your talers. I love them! They are a little out of my price range but maybe someday I will save up and get myself one or two

What would you guys recommend as the best reference book for German States? I don't have much in the way of reference, my primary sources being WorldCoinGallery.com, the Red Book of World Coins that covers from 1850-1964, and that's it. Even if I don't add too many coins I would enjoy reading about them.

Thanks again!

Rickc300 · June 19, 2010 8:37AM

Hey Billy,

I think the Standard Catalog of Geman Coins (Krause) is a great place to start. I gave away my first edition, but I will keep my eyes open for another. The prices are out of date in both the first and second editions but they give an idea of rarity for most coins. PM me your snail mail, I have a couple duplicates that I think will fit right in with what you already have.

Rick

BillyKingsley · June 19, 2010 8:46AM

Wow, thanks Rick! Much appreciated!

I will see if I can get myself a copy of that book, it sounds like it would be fun reading.

ProofArtworkonCircs · June 19, 2010 12:58PM

Rickc300 - could you give a some thoughts on Munster coins? I am fascinated by the various jurisdictions existing simultaneously and issueing coins. We have the Cathedral Chapter, City and Bishoric/Principality. Do we have 3 different Munsters in a series of concentric circles?

syl · June 20, 2010 6:41PM

I have used a book in German with great success for the 18th century minors(although talers in there as well). I don't read German and you have to interperet the German spelling of the individual city-state, but you can find some not in Krause. The photography is not the greatest, but you take what you can find. The book is "Deutcher Munzkatalog, 18.Jahrhundert". It has both Gerhard Schon and Battenberg on the cover. I think that I got mine about 25 years ago through Brooklyn Gallery (one of the best and cheapest place to go for unused, hard-to-find books) .. great discounts!

coffeyce · June 24, 2010 12:56PM

Heres one I picked up in a 50 pound world coin lot some time ago.

Chris

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo106/coffeyce/P1010043-1.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo106/coffeyce/P1010044.jpg

German States

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