Germany: 2022 Collector Coins

[chrisild]

January 2021 is over, time to publish the list of German collector coins for 2022.

There will be three new theme series: €5 "World of Insects", €10 "Serving Society", and €20 (gold) "Return of Wild Animals". More about these later.

The €10 series will start with a coin about care (as in elder care), quite possibly inspired by the Coronavirus pandemic. And it seems that this year's €25 Christmas coin is the first in a new series too; in 2022 that will be continued with another Christmas related design.

Christian

[chrisild]

Here is the list of issues. I added a few links primarily to English Wikipedia pages ...

(A) Cu-Ni plus color (€5) or polymer (€10)
€5 Wunderwelt Insekten (2022-2024) – 20 Oct
€10 Im Dienst der Gesellschaft (2022-2026): "Pflege" (care or nursing) – 7 Apr

(B) Silver
€20 Grimm Fairy Tales (2012-2023): "Rumpelstilzchen" – 20 Jan
€20 Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (born 225 years ago) – 24 Feb
€20 Kinderhilfswerk (50th anniversary), also see the organization's website (English overview) German Children's Fund – 12 May
€20 Corvey Abbey (founded 1200 years ago) – 22 Sep
€25 Christmas (2021-2025): Herrnhuter Stern – 24 Nov

(C) Gold
€20 Rückkehr der Wildtiere (2022-2027): Kegelrobbe (Grey Seal) – 20 Jun
€50 Musikinstrumente (2018-2022): Konzertgitarre – 8 Aug
€100 Säulen der Demokratie (2020-2022): Freiheit – 4 Oct

The €25 piece will be pure silver (Ag 999) and have a "plate" shape again. As for the Pillars of Democracy (€100) series, see here.

(Edit) The issue dates are subject to change due to the pandemic. For example, the 20-Jan date is now "dead" as Bundesbank branch offices are not open to the general public these days.

[chrisild]

A few designs we already know, as they parts of theme series. The "Rumpelstilzchen" €20 coin from the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales series was designed by Katrin Pannicke ...

[chrisild]

The €50 "guitar" coin (Musical Instruments series) was designed by Jordi Truxa. That is, he did the image side; the eagle/value side - same for all issues in that series - was done by Erich Ott.

[chrisild]

The third and last €100 coin from the Pillars of Democracy set is Freiheit (freedom). Image side: Bastian Prillwitz, eagle side: Andre Witting.

[chrisild]

Of course the designs of the newly announced coins are not known yet, but those of you who collect paper money (and quite possibly a few others) may have seen Annette von Droste-Hülshoff before. She was on the 20 DM note that circulated between 1992 and 2001; the attached image is from the Bundesbank's website.

Christian

[chrisild]

Updated reply #1 with the planned issue dates. (Source: Federal Ministry of Finance.) The €5 coin will be colored but not have a polymer ring, it seems. We will see – the piece won't come until October 2022 anyway.

Christian

[chrisild]

Here we have the design of the "Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk" coin, by Susanne Jünger. The core elements are ... the organization's logo, and a few hexagons. The shapes and colors are what the DKHW uses.

[chrisild]

The piece honoring Annette von Droste-Hülshoff was designed by Anna Auras. The head of the eagle looks a little weird ... two beaks? Ah no.   The portrait I find interesting, a little different from those I have seen so far.

[Figleaf]

I agree that Auras has done a fine job. On the banknote, Annette stares blandly into nothing. In the picture on her wikipedia page she does the same. She looks detached, even empty. Auras gives her the same expression, but this time, the hair is moving in the wind, making clear that she is outside, and she is surrounded by symbols of nature, which is her literary forte. The effect is to make her look pensive or in contemplation, which is exactly right for a poet.

Peter

[chrisild]

This is the design of next year's €10 coin. As mentioned in the initial post, it will be the first piece in the new five year series "Im Dienst der Gesellschaft". A rough translation could be "Serving society". According to the Numismatic Office, the plans for that series began in 2019, before the current pandemic, so this is not actually a "Covid coin". But of course the theme reminds of the high relevance of care workers no matter where they do their job. The image side was designed by Peter Lasch; the value side - which will be the same for the entire series - was done by Patrick Niesel.

Christian

[Figleaf]

While I am not overly happy with the bland, blocky structures in the background, at least they do a yin-and-yang job. The hands save the design from being yet another collection of minuscule objects. All in all, not a very strong design, but not really bad either.

There are signs that the uptick in social appreciation of medical and social care personnel not just holds, but is expanding. Many companies were faced with a situation where those with a low salary and social standing, from garbage collectors to bus drivers to at home deliverers were labelled "essential". Losing essential workers is now seen as a significant risk factor. I can't see yet what action will be undertaken, but I think things won't go back to normal in this area. There may be a fall-out for immigants also, but that may be wishful thinking. In that sense, the subject of the coin series is timely, but some re-thinking may be needed.

Peter

[chrisild]

This "Im Dienst der Gesellschaft" will also be the edge inscription. Somewhere I read the translation "At the service of society" - well, you get the idea.

Here is the design of the first €5 piece in the new "Insects" series – basically Cu-Ni but with color effects. The government plans to issue nine designs between 2022 and 2024. This first coin was designed by Jordi Truxa (image side) and Andre Witting (eagle/value side). The press release (German) does not mention any mintage figures. I read somewhere that the mintages will, as from 2022, be driven by demand. So probably some minimum and/or maximum figure, with the actual number somewhere in between. Have not seen anything official about that though. A larger image of the design is here.

Christian

[redlock]

The design of the eagle is an atrocity.   

[chrisild]

Here we have two animals - a grey seal (Kegelrobbe) on the image side, and a somewhat better eagle on the other side. This new series of €20 gold coins focuses on wild animals that had become rare or almost extinct in Germany but then came back mostly due to protection programs. The "Kegelrobbe" piece was designed by Olaf Stoy. Here is the press release with further info in German.

(By the way, the font used on the eagle side reminds me of the one we had on some pre-euro circulation coins, see here. The width/height proportions are roughly the same, and if you look at the "U"s for example, the different widths of the two vertical lines are similar.)

Christian