Togol hat geschrieben:How PP pieces were sold or given away (individually, set, public sales, given to company shareholders?)
The reason for my interest in method of sale is that two secondary sources in the English-literature make reference to at least a portion of the Neu Guinea Compagnie coins being issued in sets.
Krause’s “Standard Catalog of World Coins 1801-1900” lists officially issued proof sets as designated by the issuing authority (according to the Introduction). Under the New Guinea section, a 1894 proof set is listed that includes seven coins: the copper and silver issues (excluding the gold 10 and 20 mark).
William Mira’s book “From Cowrie to Kina” (1986) has a relatively short section on the Neu Guinea Compagnie that makes specific reference to presentation sets: “As well as the coins for general circulation in the company’s domains, special presentation sets were produced. These were housed in red cases with a gold embossed German Eagle on the lid" (p. 52). Whether “special presentation sets” refers to PP coins is unclear.
I have not yet been able to confirm either of these claims by identifying the primary source material. And not everything in the English-literature on the Neu Guinea Compagnie coins can be taken as fact… I’ve seen the bird-of-paradise effigy labelled as everything from “Pheasant” to “Eagle”!
Also, if PP coins were sold in sets, there would be the expectation that a boxed set (as described by Mira) might appear at public auction. Something I’ve never come across. Rather, in the 40 years following mintage (<1934), sale records are mainly of individual coins (mostly 5, 10, and 20 marks), sets of the three copper coins, or sets of the four silver coins.
With this limited information, I’d say Mynter’s conclusion is a fair assumption. I could rationalise special presentation sets being presented to the Board of Directors, but not going beyond these recipients. If we rule out PP sets as the means of sale, there is a possibility that the quantity of PP coins stamped could differ greatly between denominations (as seen with the East Africa coinage).