Germany 2024: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Frankfurt 1849 Constitution

[chrisild]

The 2023 coin from the second "German States" series has not been issued yet, but the government already picked the design for 2024.   After the state of Hamburg (which has the Bundesrat presidency between 1-Nov-2022 and 31-Oct-2023), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will be honored.

The coin (obverse design by Michael Otto) shows the Königsstuhl chalk cliff on the island of Rügen. Mintage will be "up to" 30 million; guess that also depends on the overall cash demand. The small "X" near the one o'clock star will be replaced by the mark (A, D, F, G or J) of the producing mint. Between the seven and eight o'clock stars there is the (somewhat ornate) signature of the designer.

The "D" below the year ... don't ask me why, but the German government loves cars, I suppose.  Instead of the ISO code "DE" which we use "online" (TLD) but also on our ID cards for example, the €2 coins have a mere "D", like on car license plates and driver's licenses. The "D" is also used as the Munich mintmark? Oh, never mind, we like to confuse people. But the design I actually like.

Press release (German) with more info and a larger image (use the magnifying glass symbol).

[chrisild]

Instead of the ISO code "DE" which we use "online" (TLD) but also on our ID cards for example, the €2 coins have a mere "D", like on car license plates and driver's licenses. The "D" is also used as the Munich mintmark? Oh, never mind, we like to confuse people.

This oddity also came up in a German coin forum (where it is discussed at least whenever a new German €2 commem design is presented ) , and today one guy posted a message that he had just written to the Federal Ministry of Finance. Good idea! So I did that too - different words, same "concept". We will see what happens.

[Figleaf]

Letters to the ministry end up in the press department, that uses them as toilet paper. If you want to lobby effectively, either find out the name of the person actually responsible for the nitty-gritty design details (she may be in the Central Bank, rather than the ministry) and aim for a friendly conversation that assumes she doesn't even know what the problem is, or - the more difficult way - use the press as go-between, to worry the ministerial press department into looking for a scapegoat. In the latter case, keep pressing. The first instinct of the press gang will be to sit on it and hope the issue goes away.

Peter

[chrisild]

Agreed with the last sentence.   Over here, the central bank has nothing to do with coin designs. And my e-mail to the BMF cannot be used as tee pee, unless somebody there prints everything. But of course those messages may still be ignored. We will see what happens ...

[eurocoin]

I fully support the initiative to have the D replaced with DE. The way it is currently being done is confusing and frustrating. It is actually surprising that apparently nobody has pointed this out to the government ever since the D mark was introduced in 2010. Hopefully the German government will make this change.

[chrisild]

The second commemorative €2 coin that will be issued next year has the theme "Paulskirchen-Verfassung". In 1848 a National Assembly was established in Frankfurt; its aim was to replace the somewhat loose bunch of German countries with a unified democratic Germany. Ultimately that did not work out as the rulers of Prussia and a few other authoritarian countries were against it (and then brought a violent end to that parliament), but the members of the Frankfurt parliament designed a constitution in 1849. More about the background here.

In 1973 the Federal Republic of Germany had already issued a 5 DM coin commemorating the 125th anniversary of the 1848 National Assembly (Nationalversammlung). This time it will be the 175th anniversary of the 1849 constitution – one that never became effective but certainly influenced later democratic German constitutions (Weimar 1919, Grundgesetz 1949). The design is not known yet.

[eurocoin]

Tomorrow I will write to the German Ministry of Finance to ask them to change the D on the 2 euro commemorative coins to DE. In my message that I have prepared I also explain them that using an abbreviation on the 2 euro commemorative coins makes sense, just in case they were considering to replace the D with the country name in full. It has been 1 month since the first collectors sent their messages about this and there has so far been no reply from the German treasury, so I figured that the initiative could use an extra push, and possibly a new perspective as I am likely the first foreigner who requests them to consider to make this change.

[chrisild]

 

[eurocoin]

I find it disgraceful that the German government has never replied to any of the emails that people sent about this. Very disappointing.

[chrisild]

Disappointing it sure is. I just wrote a comment about that in a German forum; seems to me that the German government at some point decided to use the odd single-letter country code, and simply ignores each and every question about this. Apparently nobody who contacted the BMF about this has ever received a response. Very poor.

[chrisild]

The design of the Frankfurt 1849 Constitution coin has been published; see the attached image. (The other side is the usual €2 reverse.) The coin is likely to be issued in March 2024, for the constitution anniversary. More about the background in reply #5 here.

The coin is designed by Bodo Broschat; his initials are near the 5 o'clock star. It shows the Paulskirche in the center of the bottom half; at the very bottom, between that stupid country identifier "D" and the year "2024" you see many little dots – the parliament members – going into the building. In order to emphasize that this coin is about the constitution, not the assembly in general, you see the document and a quill behind the church. Above the building, three female allegories representing Unity, Justice and Freedom. Those terms (Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit) are also the first words of the German national anthem.

Behind the three figures is a flag with horizontal stripes. And no, the coin will not be colored (unless some private third party does that ), but if it was, the stripes would be black, red and gold/yellow – the colors of the German federal flag. Both the anthem and the flag go back to the 19c when they represented the idea of creating a unified democratic Germany, instead of a few dozen authoritarian German countries.

A larger image of the design can be viewed or downloaded here. Mintage will be 30 million max. As usual, all five mints will make these pieces.

[quaziright]

It's a nice design on a 2€ for a change. It will be interesting to see how it translates onto an actual coin

[Figleaf]

I'd have argued that Einigkeit should have been left and Recht at centre, to keep with the relevant texts, but I get the feeling that somewhere, there may be a monument that served as model for that part of the design.

A few years back, a group of WoC members visited the Paulskirche, coming out duly and positively impressed, witness the discussion of the visit afterwards. For that reason alone, I shall be hunting for at least one of these five coins.

Peter

[chrisild]

May well be that there is such a monument; I don't know. If there is one, it will be older – today such allegorical figures are outdated. We could argue that Iustitia is missing one of her usual attributes: Usually she is depicted with the scales, the sword and a blindfold; the latter I do not see here (even though I do not wear one now ). Placing Unity in the middle is OK because neither of her hands holds anything; this way she can reach out to the others.

Not so fond of the tiny little people at the bottom, but we have seen little dots representing groups of people on other coins. Would have to look but I think <k> has such a topic here. Oh, and of course the Paulskirche stands firmly, not tilted in any way. But the rest of the obverse is quite dynamic , so this makes sense in my opinion.