Between Rise and Fall - Weimar Republic Collection

Between Rise and Fall: The Weimar Republic in Seven Chapters

Hyperinflation and the “Golden Twenties”, emergency money and the Reichsmark, upheaval and collapse: hardly any era in German history is as dense, as contradictory and as exciting as the years between 1918 and 1933. The collection “Between Rise and Fall” tells this story not from a textbook, but with originals. It contains two coin sets of the Weimar Republic, a Hamburg emergency money set from 1923, and four of the most beautiful silver commemorative coins at 3 Reichsmark. For anyone who loves historical silver coins and German monetary history, this is a collection with real depth.

What's Included in the Collection

• Coin set of the Weimar Republic, 1st issue (1918–1924): six circulation coins from the Rentenmark era, from the Rentenpfennig to the Mark of 1924, on an illustrated blister card
• Coin set of the Weimar Republic, 2nd issue (1924–1933): six circulation coins from the Reichsmark era, from the Reichspfennig to the Reichsmark
• Emergency money set of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (1923): four pieces, including ½ million Mark and 200,000 Mark from August 1923, as well as clearing tokens from the Hamburgische Bank from 1923
• 3 Reichsmark 700 Years of Imperial Freedom Lübeck (1926)
• 3 Reichsmark Graf Zeppelin (1930), the commemorative coin for the 1929 world flight
• 3 Reichsmark Rhineland Evacuation (1930)
• 3 Reichsmark Walther von der Vogelweide (1930)

The Rise from Chaos: Emergency Money, Rentenmark, Reichsmark

In the summer of 1923, a loaf of bread cost several times more in the evening than it had in the morning. The Reich's currency could no longer keep pace. In August 1923, Hamburg therefore issued its own aluminum emergency coins, with denominations that would make anyone dizzy today: ½ million Mark. On one side is the Hamburg coat of arms, on the other simply NOTGELD, the value, and AUGUST 1923. Few things have captured a currency catastrophe in metal so soberly.

Then came the turning point. In November 1923, the Rentenmark halted the currency's devaluation, and on 30 August 1924, the Coinage Act introduced the new Reichsmark currency. These two coin sets depict exactly this transition. The first represents the Rentenmark era with the ear-of-grain designs on the small denominations, the second the Reichsmark of the Weimar Republic up to 1933. The blister cards also provide the historical background: from the “men of the new government” around Friedrich Ebert and Gustav Stresemann to President Paul von Hindenburg and the transition from the parliamentary republic to the totalitarian state.

Four Silver Commemorative Coins, Four Stories

All four commemorative coins in the collection were struck to the same standard of the German Reich. Yet each tells a completely different story.

• Face value: 3 Reichsmark
• Weight: 15 g gross weight, of which 7.5 g fine silver per coin
• Fineness: silver 500/1,000
• Diameter: 30 mm
• Country of issue: German Reich (Weimar Republic)
• Years of issue: 1926 (Lübeck) and 1930 (Zeppelin, Rhineland, Vogelweide)
• Edge inscription: EINIGKEIT UND RECHT UND FREIHEIT

Lübeck 1926: Hanseatic League, Emperor, Double Eagle

In 1226, Emperor Frederick II elevated Lübeck to a Free Imperial City. 700 years later, the Reich honored this anniversary with a coin minted only in Berlin (mint mark A). With a mintage of around 200,000 pieces (Jaeger 323), it has the smallest mintage of the four issues in this set.

Graf Zeppelin 1930: An Airship Circles the World

In August 1929, the airship LZ 127, under Hugo Eckener, circled the globe. The coin (Jaeger 342) shows the Zeppelin crossing over the globe, with GRAF ZEPPELIN above and WELTFLUG 1929 below. The design is simple, modern, and almost graphic, and is today considered a classic of Weimar-era coin art.

Rhineland Evacuation 1930: The Eagle on the Bridge

On 30 June 1930, the last occupation troops left the Rhineland. The commemorative coin (Jaeger 345) depicts an eagle on a bridge arch. Around it runs the Arndt quote “DER RHEIN DEUTSCHLANDS STROM · NICHT DEUTSCHLANDS GRENZE” (“The Rhine is Germany's river, not Germany's border”).

Walther von der Vogelweide 1930: The Poet on the Stone

For the 700th anniversary of the great Minnesinger's death, this coin (Jaeger 344) was issued with a total mintage of only about 300,000 pieces. Walther sits thoughtfully, chin resting in his hand, just as in the famous miniature of the Codex Manesse.

Important: The Condition of the Historical Coins

All pieces in this collection are original circulated items. They were genuine means of payment, passed through shop tills and purses, and therefore bear individual traces such as patina, contact marks, or legends of varying sharpness. The mint and year of issue may vary within the sets. The condition of each individual component is explained in detail in the respective individual product listings. There you will find information on grade, mint mark, and images. The commemorative coins are bank-standard circulated items, while the pieces in the circulation coin sets are generally in the fine to extremely fine range. In short: you receive originals with their own history, not mass-produced items.

Collection or Individual Purchase? An Honest Comparison

• Advantage of the complete set: you don't have to search for and assemble pieces individually. Inflation, currency reform, culture, and politics of the Weimar era are presented to you in one coordinated selection.
• Advantage of variety: base-metal circulation coins, aluminum emergency money, and silver commemorative issues together illustrate the full range of German coinage from these years. Few sets manage to do this so vividly.
• Compared to the 5-Reichsmark issues: the Zeppelin and Rhineland Evacuation coins were also issued as larger 5-Reichsmark pieces. The 3-Reichsmark issues are more manageable, easier to obtain, and therefore ideal for building a series.
• Compared to modern bullion coins: with 500 fineness silver, the originals have a lower fine silver content than today's bullion coins made of fine silver. In return, they offer something no new minting can replicate: genuine history and holdings that can no longer grow.

A Tangible Asset with Memory

What 1923 teaches still holds true today: paper money can evaporate within weeks, while physical precious metal retains its substance. Gold is humanity's oldest currency and has outlived all others. Silver accompanied it for centuries as everyday money. The silver commemorative coins in this collection combine lasting value preservation and crisis protection with the joy of collecting. Their years of issue are closed, and many specimens were melted down or lost after being withdrawn from circulation.

Seven components, one era: with this collection you hold the rise and fall of the first German democracy in your hands, struck piece by piece in metal.

The collection is suitable as an entry point into the Weimar Republic collecting field, as an addition to an existing collection of German coins, and as a gift people love to talk about. This is how history becomes tangible. Delivery is provided as insured value shipping.