Germany 1887-G 20 pfennig
This specimen was lot 2599 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $95. The catalog description[1] noted, "GERMANY: Kaiserreich, 20 pfennig, 1887-G, a wonderful example, PCGS graded MS64." This coin is an copper-nickel twenty pfennig from a type issued 1887-88 from the Berlin (mintmark "A"), Munich (mintmark "D"), Dresden (mintmark "E"), Stuttgart (mintmark "F"), Karlsruhe (mintmark "G", shown here) 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: 306,000.
Specification: 6.25 g, copper-nickel, 23.1 mm diameter, plain edge.
Catalog reference: KM-9.1, J-6.
- 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]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 54, featuring selections from the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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