A Third Reich Commemorative

[Bimat]

This is my latest acquisition-this coins commemorates the 1st anniversary of Nazi rule.The coin isn't in its best condition and my poor photography skills make the appearance even worse

My coin has a mint mark of Berlin Mint (A).

The details of coin are:

2 Reichsmark

KM# 91

Subject: 1st Anniversary - Nazi Rule March 21, 1933

Obverse: Imperial eagle divides dates, denomination below

Reverse: Potsdam Garrison Church

8.0000 g., 0.6250 Silver, .1607 oz. ASW (=4.6 grams, OR 4.591428571428572 grams to be precise ), 27 mm.

Mintage Quantities:- (Numbers From SCWC)

Mint Mark	Mintage
A	2,710,000
D	703,000
E	373,000
F	502,000
G	305,000
J	409,000

Some background information(from wikipedia):

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and is part of the Metropolitan area of Berlin/Brandenburg. It is situated on the River Havel, 24 km (15 miles) southwest of Berlin city center.

Berlin was the official capital of Prussia and later of the German Empire, but the court remained in Potsdam, where many government officials settled. In 1914, the Emperor Wilhelm II signed the Declaration of War in the Neues Palais. The city lost its status as a second capital in 1918, when Wilhelm II abdicated at the end of World War I.

At the start of the Third Reich in 1933 there was a ceremonial handshake between President Paul von Hindenburg and the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 21 March 1933 in Potsdam's Garrison Church in what became known as the "Day of Potsdam". This symbolized a coalition of the military (Reichswehr) and Nazism. Potsdam was severely damaged in bombing raids during World War II.

Further comments are most welcome!

Aditya

[Figleaf]

Your info is fine, Aditya. There is a lot of detail left on this coin, so my advice would be to treat it with a soft eraser. It will most probably remove the brown goo. I am not so sure about what appears as yellow on my screen, but the eraser will not harm your coin and it may help. The black stuff may be oxydation and may prove to be the hardest to remove.

Peter

[Prosit]

I would soak it in acetone.

Dale

[Bimat]

Thanks for the advice,Peter,I'll give a try..I think the collector (I won't call him a dealer) overgraded the coin,and I didn't ask for scans,so I was also bit disappointed when I actually saw the coin..

As usual,I have some questions

• Who designed the Third Reich's coins?
• I read somewhere that Third Reich coins aren't so popular in Germany(for obvious reasons) and they are more actively collected in US.Is that true?

I have also received 5 Reichsmark coin(with same subject),will post a scan soon..

Aditya

[Figleaf]

If the yellow stuff doesn't vanish, consider Dale's recipe. Acetone will solve all kinds of chemicals (but who am I telling)

Peter

[Bimat]

My problem is different..I have already put it in the holder (self adhesive) and removing it is a tedious job.I may prefer to keep the coin as it is...as I'm not going to resale it anytime in future,the grade hardly has any importance At-least I can say that my Third Reich coin circulated to a large extent and Hitler once used it

If the yellow stuff doesn't vanish, consider Dale's recipe. Acetone will solve all kinds of chemicals (but who am I telling) 

Cleaning metals isn't my job,metallurgical engineers handle all that! And as far as chemicals are concerned,there's little chemistry(and so the chemicals) in chemical engineering

Aditya

[chrisild]

As usual,I have some questions

Fine, maybe "we" can put some answers together here.

Who designed the Third Reich's coins?

Depends on the coin of course. Yours was designed by Alfred Vocke (the side with the church) and Reinhard Kullrich (the side with the eagle). The dies were made by Kullrich (church) and Wilhelm Brüssow (eagle).

I read somewhere that Third Reich coins aren't so popular in Germany(for obvious reasons) and they are more actively collected in US.Is that true?

Nazi coins are definitely popular in the US (well, among those who collect non-US coins at all ). In some cases it may be due to political affinity, but that is a small minority, I think. Most find them interesting in my opinion because that was the only time in history when Germany, from a US point of view, was not just some faraway country. It was the enemy in their last "glorious" war, and the coins do have emblems of the regime. Hard to describe without getting all too political.

My own collection focuses of coins from this country. That is the Federal Republic of Germany, founded in 1949. Now I do have quite a few older pieces - from the Holy Roman Empire (very few), and also from the German Reich 1871-1949 (Monarchy, Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, Allied Occupation). Just not that many ...

Christian

[chrisild]

At the start of the Third Reich in 1933 there was a ceremonial handshake between President Paul von Hindenburg and the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 21 March 1933 in Potsdam's Garrison Church in what became known as the "Day of Potsdam". This symbolized a coalition of the military (Reichswehr) and Nazism.

There is more symbolism to that. That church was also the burial place of some Prussian kings, e.g. Frederick the Great. Shortly before that "Day of Potsdam", the Reichstag building (house of the parliament in Berlin) caught fire due to arson. Whoever did that, it was a welcome opportunity to further restrict democratic rights. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire

Now the parliament needed a new location. Its first session was at that Garrison Church; later sessions were at the Kroll Opera building in downtown Berlin. (How appropriate - after all, in Nazi Germany, the parliament was basically a show ...)

The Garrison Church in Potsdam burned down in the last weeks of WW2, and the remnants were torn down in the late 1960s. Just as Hitler used this symbol of Prussian militarism to support his regime, the GDR regime wanted it to go for the same reason. Currently there is a private initiative to rebuild the church from scratch. No idea whether they get the funds for that.

The edge inscription of the coin, by the way, is "Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz" which means something like "Public need before private greed". That motto is much older than the nazi regime, and used in many variations (ever heard "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"? ). But in Nazi Germany it soon got the meaning that the individual did not really count ...

Christian

[Prosit]

Here is my example of the church...in my opinion not nearly as attractive as the 1933 2RM.
Dale

[Figleaf]

I think Christian has described it quite well. I found in the US the same fascination with the second world war as in Britain and the USSR. In the US, there is even a TV channel devoted entirely to showing wartime footage (known as the "Hitler channel"). I agree with Christian that it has to do with longing for simple times with good guys and bad guys and hitting the bad guys until they cry uncle. It wouldn't be the last simple war for the US, as the Korean war was of a similar character, except that the bad guys didn't cry uncle. Grenada obviously doesn't count.

Meanwhile, I would say that the market for these pieces is in Germany, not the US, simply because the vast majority of coin collectors tend to collect the coins of their own country or Roman coppers.

Peter

[Prosit]

I can tell you that in the US Movies, TV, Books, Magazines, Comics and cartoons all romantized and sanitized WWII, neatly packaged it and shoved it down our throats and as a kid I was not immune.  I was facinated by the subject and still am.  The theme certainly was good triumphs over evil.  Well, the line between the two is not so clear cut as it used to be...ok as it never actually was in most cases.

I loved Sgt Rock comics.

Dale

[chrisild]

As for that "Last Glorious War", well, what I had in mind was that pretty much every war afterwards was either part of the East-West conflict (the Korean War was probably viewed quite differently in the USSR) or "not great" for other reasons (see the Balkans or Iraq). In that sense, WW2 was the last war that pretty much everybody regarded as "the right thing". Also, the presence of regime-specific emblems is an important factor. Unfortunately - at least for those collectors - there are no coins depicting Hitler.

As for the coin with the church alone, that was a circulation piece. They simply used the design of the commem but left the date out. Problem was that the huge empty area was then used by some to add political (anti-nazi) slogans. Apparently, according to the Jaeger catalog, the Reichsbank first refused to accept such pieces, as they had been "altered". But then the pieces would have continued to circulate - something that the regime was not really interested in. Don't know how many pieces had been modified that way ...

Christian

[Figleaf]

I think "Band of brothers" did an excellent job of showing it like it was. It moved me.

Peter

[Bimat]

Problem was that the huge empty area was then used by some to add political (anti-nazi) slogans. Apparently, according to the Jaeger catalog, the Reichsbank first refused to accept such pieces, as they had been "altered"..

How did they do that? Counter stamping?  It'd be interesting to see such a coin..

Aditya

[Bimat]

BTW,thanks for the information and the historic background,Christian (and others)!

@ Dale:
I have got similar 5 Reichsmark piece,but yours is in much better condition than mine The surface of coin I have got is oxidized..

Aditya