Roy Johnson - you sent me info on a copper coin you have, but when I tried
to repond my message to you bounced back. Hope you don't mind me using the
WFA list: Youw roye:
"I have a huge copper coin (diameter almost 1.5 inches) ,obverse has next to
the rim "Minister vom Stein Deutchlands F�hrer im Schwerer Zeit, 1757-1831"
with a bust of vom Stein in the center; reverse says Notgeld der Provinz
Westfalen, 1923, 10,000 Mark, with a picture of a horse; .
Wish this coin was worth 10,000 of today's marks. Do you know if this coin
has any collector's value today? Money from the German era of inflation is
probably rather plentiful, but this provincial coin used probably to pay
local sales taxes or something might be an exception."
Roy Johnson
I don't see anything like the description of your coin in my book. The
coins from the German Weimar
Republic of the 1920's seem to mostly have eagles on the reverse and are of
a much smaller denomination. None have horses. The ones who have a man's
head usually has von Hindenburg. The large value of your piece - 10,000
Marks is also a bit of a puzzle. Was the Mark greatly devalued after 1923?
I don't recall the exact period of hyperinflation. If it was greatly
devalued, perhaps your 10,000 Mark represented 1 new Mark or some such
number. Anything of true value like 10,000 Marks wouldn't (or shouldn't) be
made out of copper. When hyperinflation occurred, I would imagine the coins
were replaced by paper money that was printed in very large denominations.
I do see that the Weimar Republic started minting coins in 1923, so perhaps
Westphalia minted something on its own, but I have nothing in my book on
this.
I wonder if what you have is a medal rather than a coin or a specailly
minted commemorative coin that did not circulate. Medals often commemorate
individuals, but usually do not have a value. On the other hand, since coins
were not minted for the years after World War I, I would think coinage
started to get a little scarce and it would be a poor use of resources to
mint commemorative, non circulating coins. The way to tell a medal from a
coin is as follows:
A medal reverse has the same vertical alignment as the head on the front.
That is, if you have a medal and are looking at the obverse head in an
upright position and you flip the coin around its vertical axis (nine
o'clock becomes 3 o'clock, midnight remains midnight) the reverse will be
upright.
For a coin, if you flip it over its horizontal axis (midnight becomes 6
o'clock, nine o'clock remains nine o'clock) the reverse is upright.
Or is this confuses you. Stand in front of a mirror and look at the obverse
in an upright position. If the image of the reverse in the mirror is upside
down, you have a coin. If the reverse is right side up, you have a medal.
Sounds like you should take this to a coin dealer for further evaluation,
but in general copper coins from the 1920's probably don't have great value,
unless they are truly rare and are of great condition.
Gary