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Frage, bitte: 1917-18 1-pfennig

Verfasst: Di 04.12.18 07:04
von villa66
I was rewriting some stuff and ran across this note:

x: Germany’s WWI aluminum pfennigs have always seemed a bit anachronistic, and in two directions at once. The use of the metal seems somehow too modern (these are among the very first of the world’s circulating aluminum coins), and yet this 1917a pfennig employs the older, obsolete 1873-89 version of the eagle rather than the newer design of 1890-1916. (97)

Can anyone please say why the old 1873 version of the eagle was used on these coins rather than the newer version of 1890?

Was it perhaps to use surplus tooling remaining from the 1880s, to conserve material and effort during the war?

Or maybe it was an attempt to forestall confusion between the aluminum 1-pfennig and the iron 5-pfennig, which would have been somewhat silvery in appearance when new? (An additional question...I've always assumed the iron/steel 5-pfennig of 1915-22 was zinc-plated. Is that correct? )

Any ideas would be much appreciated....

:) v.

Re: Frage, bitte: 1917-18 1-pfennig

Verfasst: Di 04.12.18 09:23
von Mynter
I am not shure but I think to remember having read something somewhere about the old Eagle being used to make to make the 1 pfennig more distinct from the 5- pfennig, as you say. ( I wonder what the proposed 2, 5 and 10-pfennig coins of aluminium would have looked like. They are mentioned in Jaeger but I doubt any patterns where ever struck ).
Not a satisfactury answer, I know. I will try to find out more.

Re: Frage, bitte: 1917-18 1-pfennig

Verfasst: Mi 05.12.18 09:56
von villa66
Danke for the quick and effective reply, Mynter. If you happen to see it contradicted, please let me know, but for now I'm happy to go with that.

Somewhere along the way I picked up the idea of an aborted aluminum 5-pfennig--here's the note:

x: This scarce 1918d pfennig is the final member of Germany’s first series of aluminum coins. A bargain at 2DM. (These wartime stopgaps were demonetized 11 October 1924.) And note that an aluminum 5-pfennig had been authorized as well, but was never introduced to circulation. (85)

As you can see, though, I had no idea of a possible aborted aluminum 2- and 10-pfennig. so thanks for that too.

I wonder, thinking about this stuff, whether the prospect of confusion between denominations was responsible for the absence of a 2-pfennig coin when the zinc 1-, 5- and 10-pfennig debuted in 1940?

:) v.

Re: Frage, bitte: 1917-18 1-pfennig

Verfasst: Sa 08.12.18 21:20
von Mynter
According to Jaeger plans dated 1941 for a zinc 2- pfennig with a diameter of 16 mm and a centerhole of 4 mm existed but where never taken further because the production of 1-pfennig could be increaed sufficiently.
( A centerholed coin would have been a numismatic revolution indeed. In 1908 the holed modell for the new 25- pfennig did not stay any change in the Motherland due to its colonial appeal. The design then was adapted for the nickel 10 heller minted for Eastafrica where it was an immideate sucsess. )

Re: Frage, bitte: 1917-18 1-pfennig

Verfasst: Mi 12.12.18 10:15
von villa66
Thanks for the excellent information--better than I hoped for, as usual. Am busy taking it apart and distributing to various places in my coin-notebook. I'm betting, for instance, that the success of the center-holed 10-heller (1909) helped lead to the center-holed 5-heller of 1913. Etc.

Thank you!

;) v.