Germany 1918-D 10 pfennig
This specimen was lot 6601 in Künker sale 354 (Osnabrück, Germany, September 2021), where it sold for €650 (about US$905 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"WELTKRIEG UND INFLATION. 10 Pfennig 1918, D. RR Etwas Belag, sehr schön. (Germany, world war and inflation, ten pfennig of 1918. Very rare, corroded, very fine.)"
This coin is an iron ten pfennig from a type issued 1915-18 and 1921-22 from six mints, including the Munich (mintmark "D") mint. 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 ten pfennig was originally copper-nickel but was switched to iron in 1915 to save materials for the war effort. In 1917, zinc ten pfennig were introduced, struck without mintmark, but the iron type continued in production until 1922, when the reichsmark collapsed. This type is expensive in high grade.
Recorded mintage: 42,000, a rare date.
Specification: 3.6 g, iron, 21 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 20, J. 298.
- 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]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.
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