Germany 1912-A mark
This specimen was lot 70607 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, February 2020), where it sold for $168. The catalog description[1] noted, "GERMANY. Mark, 1912-A. Berlin Mint. PCGS PROOF-64 Gold Shield. A slightly better date. Deeply toned but the reflective fields still flash." This coin is a silver one mark from a type issued 1891-1916 from six mints, including the Berlin (mintmark "A", shown here), Munich (mintmark "D"), 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 pre-war silver marks are not rare but the 1914-16 issues were almost completely hoarded, making them common today in all grades. This one is priced four times the 1914-A from Berlin.
Recorded mintage: 2,439,000.
Specification: 5.55 g, 0.900 fine silver, 24 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-14; J-17.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Jaeger, Kurt, Die Deutschen Münzen seit 1871, Basel: Münzen und Medaillen AG, 1982.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The February 2020 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
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