Coin Designer Dietrich Dorfstecher (1933-2011)

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The German designer and engraver Dietrich Dorfstecher (born 11 Feb 1933) died on 30 May 2011. The first coin he designed was the German Democratic Republic's collector coin commemorating Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. That 20 MDN piece, which he "made" together with Gerhard Rommel, was issued in 1966. In the GDR (East Germany) he also designed several postal stamps.

Once the GDR states joined the Federal Republic in 1990, he focused on designing and researching coins and medals. His designs usually had lots of details, and he always used the same eagle design (which is very unusual for German coins). Some more information in German about him is here: http://www.muenzenwoche.de/de/News/4?&id=631  Attached are two images (from www.honscha.de) which show his first coin, the Leibniz piece, and his last one, the Würzburg Residence €100 gold coin. The latter is actually the smaller coin (Ø 28 mm), but I thought you might want to see the details ...

Christian

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Some more of his designs:

Wattenmeer/Waddenzee national park - 2004
Weimar (UNESCO world heritage) - 2006
Leipzig University - 2009

Don't know if he designed both sides. Dorfstecher's strong point was his ability to work with sculptors to translate his graphical designs into dies.

Peter

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Yes, over here a coin designer always "does" both sides. There are very few exceptions.

Dorfstecher's strong point was his ability to work with sculptors to translate his graphical designs into dies.

In fact that was his "problem" in the first years after the end of the GDR. Dorfstecher did no longer have a sculptor "at hand", and thus had a hard time to make designs that would convince the juries. His last GDR design was the Carl von Ossietzky piece (5 M 1989). The next Dorfstecher design that was turned into a coin was the Katharinenkloster/Meeresmuseum coin, issued 12 years later (10 DM 2001); after that he won several design contests.

Here is an article, written by Wolfgang Steguweit in the mid-1990s, about Dorfstecher's designs. The text (in German) also addresses the issue of the BBR juries expecting coin designers to be both graphic designers and sculptors. Those of you who do not understand the language can still look at quite a few of his designs.

Christian

[Prosit]

I have the Wattenmeer.  Nice coin.
Dale

Some more of his designs:
Wattenmeer/Waddenzee national park - 2004
Weimar (UNESCO world heritage) - 2006
Leipzig University - 2009

Peter

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I am shamefully ignorant on the German part. The Dutch part is indeed a site to behold. The sea, at flood time, is actually a collection of sand banks (wadden/Watten) and "canals" during ebb. The sand banks are so wide that an experienced walker can go to the outlying islands on foot. The environment attracts animals that live on the border of land and water, including seals. Much effort goes into their protection, including a "hospital" in Pieterburen (the Dutch version of Peterborough) for wounded (often by human detritus) animals and young seals that were separated from their parents in bad weather. The pictures of healed animals and young adults being returned to the sea are everybody's favourite.

Peter

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Don't think that the Wadden Sea cares much about man made borders. Most of the Dutch part and the German part in Lower Saxony is characterized, I think, by the row of islands that separates the "open" North Sea from the Wadden Sea. Between the mouths of the Ems/Eems and Elbe rivers you have sandbars rather than islands; the Northern parts (Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark) have mostly habitated islands again.

One strange thing in my opinion about that Wadden Sea coin is the plural "Parke". The area consists of three national parks (Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein), so it would indeed be incorrect to write "Nationalpark" (singular). But I think most people here say "-parks", not "-parke" ...

And yes, in both NI (Norden) and SH (Friedrichskoog) they have seal stations too. Might have made sense to depict them on the coin as well. But birds are definitely common there, and maybe Dorfstecher chose them as representatives of all wildlife there.

Christian

[Prosit]

There is a bird on the reverse so it makes sense to put birds on the front 
Dale

....... But birds are definitely common there, and maybe Dorfstecher chose them as representatives of all wildlife there.

Christian