20 Mark Prussia Friedrich III Gold Coin
- Great Rarity: sought after by collectors
- 99 Days Emperor: Year of Three Emperors 1888
- Real Fine Weight: 7.17 g pure gold
- Great RarityConsidered the rarest coin of the German Empire
- 99 Days EmperorCommemorates the emperor with the shortest reign
- Real Fine WeightWith a fineness of 900/1,000, a proven investment
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Original from the German Empire · Friedrich III
What a mark had to bear
20 marks Prussia, Friedrich III, obverse with the portrait
Value, year, imperial eagle and a letter for the mint: all of this was laid down by law. A piece of 20 marks weighs 7.96 g, of which 7.17 g is fine gold.
What the law prescribes
Eagle, value, year and a portrait
For every gold coin of the Reich, the law of 1871 laid down what it bears:
“The imperial gold coins bear on one side the imperial eagle with the inscription ‘Deutsches Reich’ and the statement of the value in marks, as well as the year of striking, on the other side the portrait of the sovereign, or the emblem of the free cities, with a corresponding legend and the mint mark.”
The Münzkabinett Berlin calls the side with the sovereign the obverse and the side with the eagle the reverse. The mint mark is the letter of the mint.
LegendThe legend above the portrait
ReichThe word REICH above the eagle
ValueThe value below the eagle
The mint mark
A letter tells where it was struck
The law prescribes a mint mark for every gold coin: a letter that names the mint. A stands for Berlin, J for Hamburg, F for Stuttgart.
“Below, the mint mark J for Hamburg.”
The photo of this piece shows a A. As it comes from different years, your piece may bear another letter.
The gold of the mark
How heavy the gold had to be
The law of 1871 counted in pounds of fine gold, the pound at 500 grams:
“Imperial gold coins of 20 marks, of which 69¾ pieces are struck from one pound of fine gold.”
In other words: one pound of fine gold yields 69¾ pieces of 20 marks.
Fineness 900/1,000 means: of a thousand parts, nine hundred are pure gold.
Officially the ten-mark piece was called the crown and the twenty-mark piece the double crown, as a decree for the imperial authorities laid down in 1875. It never caught on, the Münzkabinett Berlin notes.
The mark in silver
The silver mark in the hand
A mark holds 5 grams of fine silver, 900/1,000, and measures 24 millimetres. No one had to accept silver coins for amounts over 20 marks.
Commemorative coins
Thalers that commemorate
The Victory Thaler of 1871 from Prussia is a commemorative coin in silver. The law of 1871 allowed large silver coins for the time being only as commemorative coins, until the end of 1873.
Rentenmark and Reichsmark
The Reichsmark from 1924
The coinage act of 30 August 1924 introduced the Reichsmark; in October 1924 it came into circulation alongside the Rentenmark, one to one.
Our strikes
What our strikes take up
Our strikes bear the lettering 1 Reichsmark or 1 Mark in an oak wreath. They are newly struck, no Reichsmark of the past and no legal tender of the Reich.
At a glance
- Type
- Original
- Era
- German Empire
- Ruler
- Friedrich III
- Face value
- 20 marks
- Metal
- Gold
- Fineness
- 900/1,000
- Gross weight
- 7.96 g
- Fine weight
- 7.17 g
- Diameter
- 22.5 mm
- Packaging
- Coin capsule
Gross weight: the weight of the whole coin. Fine weight: the pure metal in it. Fineness: its share in thousandths.
Details from our product data, the coinage acts and the photo. The year and mint mark of your piece may differ from the photo.
Original and new strike
On the left a mark from the German Empire, on the right our strike of 1/200 ounce of fine gold, which takes up DEUTSCHES REICH and 1 MARK in an oak wreath.
One was money throughout the Reich, the other is newly struck: two pieces, one image.
20 Mark Preussen Friedrich III Goldmünze
Als Kaiser mit der wohl kürzesten Regierungszeit ging Friedrich III. in die Geschichte ein. Als sein Vater Wilhelm I. 1888 verstarb, folgte Friedrich III. für 99 Tage auf den Thron. Noch im selben Jahr verstarb Friedrich III in Potsdam an Kehlkopfkrebs. Das Jahr 1888 ging somit als das Dreikaiserjahr in die Geschichte ein.
Friedrich III. wurde 1831 in Potsdam geboren und wurde 1861 zum preußischen Kronprinzen. Von 1870 – 1871 war er Feldherr im Deutsch-Französischem Krieg, und erzielte dort wichtige Siege, die zum Sieg in diesem Krieg führten. Seither galt er in Deutschland als Kriegsheld und 1871 unterstütze er Bismarck bei der Erhebung seines Vaters zum Deutschen Kaiser. Seit 1887 litt Friedrich III. unter seiner Krankheit und zog sich infolge immer mehr zurück um keine Schwäche zu zeigen. Ihm wurde der Spruch „Lerne leiden, ohne zu klagen“ zugeschrieben
Aufgrund der kurzen Zeit, die Friedrich III. Kaiser war, sind die Münzen sehr gefragt bei Liebhaber und Sammler. Alle Münzen wurden in dem Jahr 1888 geprägt und gelten als die seltensten Münzen aus dem deutschen Kaiserreich.
Abschließender Hinweis:
Aufgrund des Alters dieser Münzen sind die Erhaltungszustände von einander abweichend und bei numismatischen Münzen kein Reklamationsgrund.
Product depiction may differ from the final product.
