Germany: 2020 Collector Coins

[quaziright]

Thats a nice design indeed. I'm envious of that hair though

[chrisild]

Yeah, except in his case ... you have the hair but cannot hear any more.   Below are links to two previous German coins, issued for the 200th anniversary of his birth. Both look "more static" than the new design; I don't know whether Beethoven actually had the chin that he will have on the 2020 coin, hehe.

Federal Republic 5 DM 1970
GDR 10 M 1970

Christian

[Figleaf]

You can check it out. Beethoven's birthplace is in Bonn. He no longer lives there, but they have plenty of portraits.

Peter

[chrisild]

Been there (numerous times; Bonn is not far from here) but I still don't know. His birthplace is the Beethoven-Haus now, and yes, lots of portraits and busts there, and elsewhere in the city. Of course I have never seen a photo of him but I still believe the portrait on that 2020 coin design is a little exaggerated in that regard.

But if the artist wanted to emphasize that "energetic chin", fine with me - as I wrote, basically I like the design. More dynamic than the 1970 coins.

Christian

[chrisild]

Two more designs are known now. One is dedicated to the 900th anniversary of Freiburg; the place in the state of Baden-Württemberg got city and market rights in 1120. The coin, designed by Bastian Prillwitz, shows citizens in front of Freiburg's CoA in the center. On the left and right, some significant historic buildings, wine, and "nature" including the Schlossberg (at the top). At the bottom, some water which can refer to the river Dreisam and/or the famous Bächle in Freiburg.

(Press release in German, with a link to a large image of the coin design.)

Christian

[chrisild]

The last €20 collector coin design is about the "Euro 2020" football cup. For the first time, this cup will be in several different countries; this is also reflected by the design (image side: Thomas Serres). The ball "fills" the entire side, and has the twelve host city names. The eagle side was designed by Erich Ott.

(Press release in German, with a link to a large image of the coin design.)

Christian

[Figleaf]

Looks like a medal, with the denomination hidden in a routine legend and a silver content specified in the field. Glad the designer avoided the quasi obligatory goalkeeper or tackling scene. The ball-on-coin concept is not new, but breaking through it at the centre is. In the end, it doesn't look like another commercial picture on metal, but a bit more artsy. Could have been far worse.

Peter

[chrisild]

By and large I like both designs. As for the Freiburg piece, what is a little unfortunate in my opinion is that the "shape" of the eagle apparently reflects the shape of the CoA on the other side. Does that poor bird have to have foldable wings?

As I am not really interested in commercial football, I could care less about that last piece. But the "ball side" design is nice. Now I do not know why we have two different artists for the two sides. To me it looks as if the ball and the text on the theme side had an incused design while the eagle and the text on the other side are raised.

One positive aspect for collectors though. Had not thought about this, but somebody brought it up elsewhere - even though the Euro 2020 coin is a sports piece, it will simply be made by one mint. Thus no "secret hints" which in other cases made collectors look out for subtle differences and then buy all five versions. Here it will be J = Hamburg (not Munich which will be one of the Cup locations), and that's it.

Do those pieces look like medals? Maybe, in the sense that the value digits are not bigger than the other characters. Then again, collector coins are not meant to be means of payment anyway ...

Christian

[quaziright]

Two more designs are known now. One is dedicated to the 900th anniversary of Freiburg; the place in the state of Baden-Württemberg got city and market rights in 1120. The coin, designed by Bastian Prillwitz, shows citizens in front of Freiburg's CoA in the center. On the left and right, some significant historic buildings, wine, and "nature" including the Schlossberg (at the top). At the bottom, some water which can refer to the river Dreisam and/or the famous Bächle in Freiburg.

(Press release in German, with a link to a large image of the coin design.)

Christian

Looking forward to see this coin in my hand

[chrisild]

The €100 gold coin will be about "Unity". Now that the Unesco World Heritage series has come to an end, the federal government decided to start a new one. But it will be relatively short: three years, three issues. The theme will be the first words of the German national anthem - Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit.

So the 2020 piece will have unity (Einigkeit) as its theme. In my opinion the design should not be about, or not focus on, the 1990 German unification (Einheit) but about being or standing together. The Dutch have the word "eendracht" which (I think) is close to this Einigkeit. Quite abstract, yes, but law (Recht, 2021) and freedom (Freiheit, 2022) will be similarly difficult to picture on a coin ...

Christian

[redlock]

law (Recht, 2021)

Wouldn't ''justice'' be a better translation in the context of our (german) national anthem?

[chrisild]

Quite possibly so.   Was thinking of the term "Rule of Law", but yeah, I agree ...

Christian