While everyone seem to be involved in a Gold Rush Silver has been steadily growing in worth .
Although Silver is still growing in value it will probably continue growing in value.
One investor tried to corner the market in silver but was eventually foiled .
German Gold Coins are a little confusing -especially early ones.
Early Gold Coins
Before unification, Germany was a number of individual states each of which minted its own German Gold coins.
Most of these were Silver coins and only about 40 states issued their own gold coins
These varied in size and some were fractional coins.
Indeed some states combined and used interchangeable gold coins whereas others used coins the same size as other countries to enable easier trade.
Because of this you may well see Ducats, Thalers,Gulden,Pistoles Franken etc.
This meant that a trader from Bavaria would be able to trade easily in the Neherlands , Switzerland or a dozen different countries.
19th Century Gold Coins
Prussia had its own 20 Mark Gold Coins for Wilhelm (1861 to 1888)
and for Wilhem IInd (1888 to 1918- although gold coins ceased production in 1915)
There were three Gold German Coins available
All were of .900 Fineness.
The 5 Mark Gold Coin was 16mm across and weighed .0576 of a Troy Ounce
The 10 Mark Gold Coin was 19.5 mm across and weighed .1152 of a Troy Ounce
The most popular investors coin however was the 20 Mark Gold Coin
The 20 Mark Gold Coin was 22.5mm across and weighed .2304 of a Troy ounce
Production of Gold Marks ended officially in 1915
The Mark was known as the Goldmark and was on a gold standard with 2790 Marks being equal to 1 Kilogram of pure Gold.
German Gold Coins were known to have been minted in
Baden,
Bavaria,
Hamburg,
Prusia,
Regensburg,
Saxony,
Wuerttemburg
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US $13.50
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Between 1915 and the outbreak of WWII paper money was used and the subsequent debasement of the paper currency lead to German people needing a wheelbarrow to carry enough money to buy a loaf of bread
More Recent Gold Coins
Nazi Gold Plated Coins are known from the Third Reich era
These usually show an Eagle over a swastika
Theses coins are not of high value.
Warning these are sometimes offered as *GOLD* but they are only plated (usually thinly)
In more modern times there are some Gold 1 mark coins which were issued in 2001
as a commemorative issue
These are very much valued by collectors in Germany as this was related to the retiremnt
of the mark as Currency.
After Germany adopted the Euro as currency, special 1/2 ounce (100 Euro) and 1 ounce (200 Euro) coins wew issued
These were issued in 2002.
A Gold Proof coin of Bamberg was issued with a face value of 100 Euro this was in 2004.
Filed under Coin Collecting, Coin Identification, Fake Coins, Gold Bullion, Gold Coin Collecting, Gold Coins, Investment Coins, Proof Coins, Scams by on Apr 17th, 2010. 
