Germany 1918-A 1/2 mark
This specimen was part of lot 22651 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Chicago, August 2019), which sold for $144. The catalog description[1] noted, "GERMANY. Empire 1/2 Mark Trio (3 Pieces), 1916-1918. All PCGS MS-67 Gold Shield. 1) 1916-D. Munich Mint. 2) 1918-A. Berlin Mint. 3) 1918-D. Munich Mint." This coin is a silver half mark from a type issued 1905-19 from 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 half marks are not rare but the 1915-19 issues were almost completely hoarded, making them common today in all grades.
Recorded mintage: 14,622,000, a very common date.
Specification: 2.77 g, 0.900 fine silver, .080 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: KM-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, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The August 2019 Chicago ANA Auction: World Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2019.
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