Germany 1891-D mark
The first specimen was lot 6128 in Künker sale 354 (Osnabrück, Germany, September 2021), where it sold for €3,400 (about US$4,732 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"REICHSKLEINMÜNZEN, 1 Mark 1891, D. Selten, besonders in dieser Erhaltung. Vorzüglich. (Germany, one mark of 1891, scarce in this quality, extremely fine.)"
The second specimen was lot 1587 in Stephen Album sale 41 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2021), where it sold for $360. The catalog description[2] noted, "GERMANY: Wilhelm II, 1888-1918, AR mark, 1891-D, KM-14, Jaeger-17, key date/mintmark, some fairly minor rim damage, extremely rare issue, only 2 pieces certified at PCGS, PCGS graded VF details, RRR." This coin is a silver mark from a type issued 1891-1916 from the Berlin (mintmark "A"), Munich (mintmark "D", shown here), Muldenhutten (mintmark "E"), Stuttgart (mintmark "F"), Karlsruhe (mintmark "G") and Hamburg (mintmark "J") mints. 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. The one mark was struck until 1916. This date is rare. The pre-war silver marks are not rare but the 1914-16 issues were almost completely hoarded, making them common today in all grades.
Recorded mintage: 418,000 for 1891-92, nearly all 1892.
Specification: 5.55 g, 0.900 fine silver, 24 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 14, J. 17.
- 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.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Künker Auktion 354: Munzen und Medaillen aus Mittelalter und Neuzeit u. a. Braunschweig-Luneburg. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2021.
- [2]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 41, featuring the Dick Nanta Collection of Giray Khans, Part II, the Charles Opitz Collection of Ethnographic Money, Part II, and the Allan F. Pacela Collection of Chinese Coins. Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2021.
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