Frei Stadt Danzig coins.....

[panzerman]

Please show  your stuff...

Mine/

Frei Stadt Danzig

AV 25 Gulden 1930

Danzig Mint

Arms/ Neptune

[El Cazador]

3 hours ago, panzerman said:

Please show  your stuff...

Mine/

Frei Stadt Danzig

AV 25 Gulden 1930

Danzig Mint

Arms/ Neptune

Really cool

[panzerman]

Thanks, I like the depiction of Neptune!

 

John

[Dwarf]

I little bit on the "story behind this"

These coins of Danzig were never officially issued; the stock remained with the Deutsche Reichsbank in Berlin and was intended to cover the circulation of banknotes. Nevertheless, a few pieces ended up in the hands of collectors in the "old times"
When Danzig was annexed to the Reich, high leaders of the NSDAP were each awarded a piece of this 25-gulden coin in a "beautiful case".

These coins used to be incredibly scarce. I remember high 5-figure-prices. Coins with an original case naturally being much more expensive.
The coins were stored together with other German gold coins in the deep vaults of the "Juliusturm" in the "Festung Spandau" near Berlin. Russian troops took possession of the Juliusturm at the end of WWII - the gold was gone.

With the "Fall of the Iron Curtain" in the late 80ies suddenly these 25 Gulden, very large quantities of 10-Mark-Gold Wilhelm I, rare gold of small German States appeared on the marked - all in crisp new condition but usually with bag marks, as the coins were stored in bags and sometimes counted during stock-keeping.

I like the design, handled a few - and Neptune´s fountain is still prominent in Gdansk in Poland

Regards
Klaus

Edited February 4 by Dwarf

[panzerman]

Interesting history/ you enlightened me. Thank God that the Soviets did not get their hands on these coins. They would have been melted down by Stalin. Now, one can easily afford these/ there seem to be lots that appear in  auctions/ most slabbed as MS-65 or higher.

[Tejas]

Very cool. I have been to Danzig a couple of times. One part of my family had a house on the Langgasse, which was the high street and just a few meters from the Neptun fountain in the picture above. 

[maridvnvm]

Not gold, not pretty but the only thing I have that is vaguely relevant.

Danzig, 10 Pfennig

Obv:- STADT DANZIG,Angel head above oval arms within circle / 1920
Rev:- 10 within cartouche
Free City of Danzig, Poland

Mintage : 876,000
Reference:- KM#Tn1

[Tejas]

Danzig is a very tragic place. Detaching this city with its predominantly German population, its German history and traditions from the German state was likely the single biggest mistake of the Versailles Treaty. It was one important catalysts for the rise of the Nazis and it made war between Germany and Poland nearly inevitable. 

Edited February 5 by Tejas

[panzerman]

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles made many mistakes. Look at the mess in the Middle East/ result of the dismantling of the  Ottoman Empire/ creating Colonial Empire for Britain/ France. They should have looked at the Treaty of Vienna 1815/ Prussia/ Austro-Hungarian Empire/ Great Britain treated the loosing side France with dignity and respect/ hence no second War. The biggest winners from Versailles were the Bolshevists in USSR. We all know how that story ended.😝

[Arcane76]

Not gold either but I like the fish designs! Rim dings courtesy of overzealous daughter 😂. 
1932 5 pfennig turbot on reverse 

1932 10 pfennig codfish on reverse

[panzerman]

Looks like a Flounder and a Carp! Flounder is excellent!

[Troyden]

22 hours ago, Tejas said:

Danzig is a very tragic place. Detaching this city with its predominantly German population, its German history and traditions from the German state was likely the single biggest mistake of the Versailles Treaty. It was one important catalysts for the rise of the Nazis and it made war between Germany and Poland nearly inevitable. 

"German history". As if it wasn't founded by Poles and part of Poland for most of its actual history.

Plus, the tensions between interwar Poland and Weirmar/Nazi Germany were manageable, until Hitler pulled Danzig as a pretext for wholesale aggression which he planned anyway. 

 

Edited February 6 by Troyden

[Tejas]

Danzig was not founded by Poland or Poles. The earliest setters in the region of modern Danzig were Scandinavian traders, baltic Prussians and slawic Kashubians. In 969 the settlement joined the realm of the slawic-polabian prince Miezko. Around that time the missionary Adalbert visited Danzig and baptized "numerous baltic Prussians". From around 1200 German settlers and merchants reached the region and settled in large numbers in Danzig. From around 1300 to 1945  the population of the city was predominately German.

In the middel ages, Danzig was not one single town, but a group of settlements, consiting of the Teutonic Order's castle Danzig with its settlement, the Hakelwerk founded by Germans according to Magdeburg law, the Rechtstadt consisting of the Speicherinsel and Alte Vorstadt. These settlements were ruled by the German Hansa, the Danziger Altstadt, where the German craftsmen lived and the Danziger Neustadt, which the Teutonic Order had founded after the uprising of the Rechtstadt in 1343. 

According to the language census of 1923 the population was

366.730 in total of which 348.493 (95%) were Germans.

So yes, Danzig was a German city for most of its existance. It was a German speaking city (look at the coins above for evidence) with German laws and German traditions notwithstanding that it had a small Polish minority and lived under Polish suzerainty for some time.

On 2/6/2024 at 2:25 PM, Troyden said:

Plus, the tensions between interwar Poland and Weirmar/Nazi Germany were manageable, until Hitler pulled Danzig as a pretext for wholesale aggression which he planned anyway. 

That is a tricky discussion, which we cannot have here. Lets just say that the management of these tensions were not made easier when Poland - which had been frustrated when all the German regions it had claimed after WWI voted for staying with Germany - tried to use the Danzig corridor to cut off a whole German province (East Prussia) from the German mainland.

 

 

 

Edited February 8 by Tejas

[panzerman]

Well put Tejas/ you know your history. The Teutonic Order had a big part in the history of Danzig too.

John

[Tejas]

That is true of course. However, the city of Danzig and the Teutonic Order had a very complicated relationship. In 1308 the Markgrave of Brandenburg laid claim to Danzig causing the city to call on the Teutonic knights to defend the city against the Brandenburg troops. The Teutonic Order successfully defended the city, but soon the order and the towns people argued about the costs of this military aid. As a result the Teutonic Order of Knights took control of Danzig. With its large castle, the Marienburg (one of the largest castles of the middle ages) close to Danzig, the grandmaster could easily control affairs of the city. At this time, nationalism or ethnic considerations played little or no role and the citizens of Danzig preferred the suzerainty of the Polish king, who was based far away in Cracow and much less likely to meddle in Danzig’s affairs. The Teutonic Order struck coins at Danzig, which show a little D above the Order’s coat of arms.

Edited February 8 by Tejas

[Paddy54]

[Paddy54]

[Paddy54]

[Paddy54]

[Tejas]

Here are two more coins from Danzig from my collection:

The top coin is a Groschen (Gros)

Obv.: DANZIGER KUPFER MUENZE (Copper coin of Danzig)

Rev.: 1812

The second coin is a Schilling (Shilling)

Obv. I DANZIG. SCHILLING, 1801 A

The dot behind DANZIG indicates that the name of the city is in the Dativ case (like on the Groschen) und should be read as DANZIGER (of Danzig)

The reverse shows the monogram of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm. Danzig was the capital of Western Prussia. The coin was minted for Danzig in Berlin.

[The Eidolon]

My two Danzig coins.  I hope to add some more types some day.