Germany 1887-A 20 pfennig
This specimen was lot 6211 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €500 (about US$646 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"REICHSKLEINMÜNZEN, 20 Pfennig 1887, A. Selten in dieser Erhaltung. Polierte Platte. (empire of Germany, twenty pfennig of 1887, Berlin mint. Scarce in this quality, proof.)"
This coin is an copper-nickel twenty pfennig from a type issued 1887-88 from the Berlin (mintmark "A", shown here), Munich (mintmark "D"), Dresden (mintmark "E"), Stuttgart (mintmark "F"), Karlsruhe (mintmark "G") and Hamburg (mintmark "J") mints. The preceding type (KM 5) of 1873-77 was silver. A later type (KM 13), struck 1890 and 1892, had a slightly redesigned eagle. Under the German Empire of 1871-1918, the denominations of two mark and up were permitted for the formerly independent principalities while the lower denominations (one pfennig thru one mark) were minted to a unified design.
Recorded mintage: 2,712,000, the most common date.
Specification: 6.25 g, copper-nickel, 23.1 mm diameter, plain edge.
Catalog reference: KM 9.1, J. 6.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Jaeger, Kurt, Die Deutschen Münzen seit 1871, Basel: Münzen und Medaillen AG, 1982.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 386: Brakteaten | Mainz | Bibliothek Prof. Dr. Niklot Klüßendorf | Mittelalter und Neuzeit | Goldprägungen | Deutsche Münzen ab 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.
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