Nazi Silver

[SamGibsonBJJ]

Does anyone own any 1933 - 1945 reichmarks? Im interested in world history and have old sovereigns, crowns etc and Im thinking of adding some of these coins to my collection. Do you feel its morally wrong to own something that help to prop up such a terrible regime or is it just a piece of history to remember this period by?

 

Thoughts please.

[Bullionaire]

The silver didn't murder millions of people, and it's not like you'd be financing nazis by buying them, so crack on I say - very interesting pieces of history. 

[sixgun]

i must say i don't have any German silver from that time but i have looked on ebay a few times to see if there were any going. There is quite a lot of plated stuff. No the silver didin't murder millions but RAF and USAF fire bombing of civilians did.

[Xander]

5 minutes ago, sixgun said:

i must say i don't have any German silver from that time but i have looked on ebay a few times to see if there were any going. There is quite a lot of plated stuff. No the silver didin't murder millions but RAF and USAF fire bombing of civilians did.

You forgot to mention the Nazi Luftwaffe.

[sixgun]

13 minutes ago, Xander said:

You forgot to mention the Nazi Luftwaffe.

My grandad was in the London fire brigade in the war. He had some stories of burning bodies. So i did not post but i did not forget. Least we forget - England started the war and England started the bombing. Hitler never wanted war with England. War could have been avoided. English people died needlessly because of the traitors in our government who were spoiling for war. Most of the His Story books forget to mention these little details. Most of the His Story books forget to mention most of the truth and spin propaganda.

[Jimmock]

Let's put an end to this debate. The history of mankind is full of atrocities carried out against fellow human beings,for whatever reason you care to mention,and ANYBODY who tries to deny it or glorify it should be ashamed of themselves.

[sixgun]

2 minutes ago, Jimmock said:

Let's put an end to this debate. The history of mankind is full of atrocities carried out against fellow human beings,for whatever reason you care to mention,and ANYBODY who tries to deny it or glorify it should be ashamed of themselves.

This thread is about German silver coins and that wars are started by traitors and psychopaths. The people never want war. They are blood sacrifices pushed for profit. WWII was declared by England, the bombing was started by England, the German peace treaty proposals were rejected by traitors claiming to represent England. i am English. Family members have served and died in that and other wars. When i learnt there was no need for that war, no need for my ancestors to have died, no need for a single English man to have died, i was angry. Those who seek to whitewash and glorify our traitors need to be ashamed.

[Oldun]

It was Britain, not England, and France that declared war after Germany invaded Poland by dishonoring the Versailles Treaty.

Just sticking to facts, not opinions.

 

Personally, I have no interest in any of the nazi silver. It only serves one purpose for me....to remind people that it should not happen again, but actually did (Bosnia etc) and probably will again.

[ilovesilverireallydo]

Personally I have a collection of 3 Reichmarks  - and I can get hold of genuine 3 / 5 reichs if you want @SamGibsonBJJ

Regarding the morality - when we get a piece of history in our hands, you never know if its stained in someones blood (figuratively) I suspect a lot of coinage has worse history, from shipwreck silver to gold doubloons and American silver coins from the slave trade era. 

[PansPurse]

I think it's a rather personal (not to mention evocative) choice/subject.

Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable collecting them, but that's just me and I'm not going to suggest that others shouldn't.

Perhaps more importantly from my perspective is just that I'm not really interested in them. Perhaps a few too many history channel documentaries has worn out my curiosity around WWII.

[StackerNoob]

13 hours ago, SamGibsonBJJ said:

Does anyone own any 1933 - 1945 reichmarks? Im interested in world history and have old sovereigns, crowns etc and Im thinking of adding some of these coins to my collection. Do you feel its morally wrong to own something that help to prop up such a terrible regime or is it just a piece of history to remember this period by?

 

Thoughts please.

I understand why you ask about morality here, because we live in a world where people dont like to face facts and want to avoid uncomfortable truths. This isnt a dig at you, its a dig at those who would dare suggest you shouldnt own reichmarks.

That is just ridiculous. We learn by looking back at our history and seeing how we went wrong before. How is that immoral? Nobody should suggest that owning a piece of history makes you immoral. Pretending it didnt happen is far more immoral in my opinion. You are basically forgetting about the tens of millions of people who died just so you dont have to feel awkward about it. I have a copy of Mein Kampf because I wanted to learn what would drive a man to the levels of cruelty displayed during WWII. When I tell people this they look at me as if I've just goosestepped up to them.

I have often searched ebay for reichmarks simply because I want to learn about it. And lets not forget, the premiums on such pieces are huge because they represent a pivotal period in the history of our species. Go for it dude, tell the snowflakes where to go.

[Sherabnamdhak]

Thanks oldun was feeling a bit left out up here beyond the wall. 

[FriedrichVonHayek]

It's strange that people have problem with Nazism and no such problem with Communism even though both ideologies are just as evil and responsible for millions of deaths.

I could probably pretty much wander around most of the UK and Europe wearing a Hammer and Sickle badge on my clothing without any hassle but I would imagine that I would get a  lot of abuse very quickly  if I wore a Swastika.

[StackerNoob]

33 minutes ago, FriedrichVonHayek said:

It's strange that people have problem with Nazism and no such problem with Communism even though both ideologies are just as evil and responsible for millions of deaths.

I could probably pretty much wander around most of the UK and Europe wearing a Hammer and Sickle badge on my clothing without any hassle but I would imagine that I would get a  lot of abuse very quickly  if I wore a Swastika.

The most lethal regimes the world has ever seen have been communist. Alot of people forget that.

Add to the mix that, in fact, the Nazis were left wing socialists. People often forget what the terms left and right actually mean. Economically speaking, which is the correct method, the Nazis were of the left since they preached class warfare, and the nationalisation of education, health care, transportation, and other major industries. Right wing economics preaches free market capitalism, private ownership and small government.

[boon]

1 hour ago, FriedrichVonHayek said:

I could probably pretty much wander around most of the UK and Europe wearing a Hammer and Sickle badge on my clothing without any hassle but I would imagine that I would get a  lot of abuse very quickly  if I wore a Swastika.

whats that then, "wingist?"

The reichsmark fascinates me too. I still enjoy documentaries on that period of history, that said I never studied history even at GCSE level so that is pehaps why  I say if the coins interest you and you are willing to pay the premium required to get them, then go for it.

[KevinG]

No don't have a single one. I don't find them that attractive. I prefer to buy German imperial silver instead.

[ilovesilverireallydo]

27 minutes ago, KevinG said:

I prefer to buy German imperial silver instead

I have a fair few German Colonial Rupies. I like those pieces. 

[KDave]

I confess I have a few Nazi coins, a denomination type set, please don't tell the government. I have studied extensively this period of history specifically Germany from 1918 and Russia from 1914 though have not taken it further than A level equivalent - it is an interesting time. These are not coins to talk about in public and as others have said Nazi - bad, Communist - good. ? 

It is the German coinage from 1924 onwards through to the fall of Berlin that tells the more complete story rather than just the Nazi coinage, as it has some lessons about what money is and where silver fits under a gold standard. Much more subtle than the hyperinflation of the papiermark but just as important and interesting.

The Nazi coins tell a few subtle stories too, more social and political than economic but still interesting. They rise to power in 1933 and the coinage stays largely the same, the Weimar design is used on almost all of the coinage with the odd exception. The potsdam church 2&5 reichsmark are the only coins with a swastika, and they are small little things on the obverse. The reverse is a church and a date (just the church sometimes on the 5), not really out of keeping with the Wiemar designs, which included airships, oak trees, that kind of thing. Nothing too controversial to start with as they get their foot in the door. 

In 1936 the Nazi's get confident and change the coinage with large swastikas on nearly every coin (not the 1 reichsmark which retains the Weimar design oddly). The designs are very attractive and display an Eagle that is much more military and aggressive looking compared to the previous imperial counterpart. It reflects the Nazi's political confidence, their designs for Germany and reflects how Germany has developed into a powerful military industrial complex. 

From 1939 (big war time) silver coinage is no longer minted and fractional pfennigs are minted in Zinc and Aluminium as the previous base metals of copper, bronze and nickel are needed for the war effort. There are some interesting pieces among this lot, including the zinc occupation coins, which were minted specifically to pay soldiers in occupied territory. These coins could not be spent in Germany which meant the host country which the solider occupied ended up economically providing for the invading troops at no cost to Germany, quite ingenious. The fact the later coins are made from Zinc means most have corroded away and some of them are quite rare. The material makes for poor coinage, but makes for a good reflection of a failing political and military power. It reminds me somewhat of the Roman coinage which was constantly debased over centuries, only the Nazi coinage was debased to worthlessness over a much shorter period due to the mutual destruction of war. 

[SILVERFINGER]

I see no problem at all in collecting it, I used to have a huge collection of german third reich era coins, stamps and notes, its history, there isn't a country in the world that the UK hasn't invaded, gone to war with, or just plain pissed off in history, yet people collect coinage from all these periods of time, as long as you dont go to your local supermarket dressed as an SS officer, and have some nazi altar with flags and swastikas hanging behind it you will be fine, just be careful of fakes, nazi stuff is collectable and demand sometimes outstrips supply of some items so fakes became rife, avoid any gold plated german marks, I seen loads of this garbage on ebay.

[daz]

I've no problem with people collecting them if that's what you are interested in . I inherited a couple and a fair few nazi medals and insignia which my uncle brought back with him from the war . It doesn't mean I'm supporting the Nazis and in fact I see them more as mementos of my uncle than Nazi memorabilia.

 

[caloundracats]

If you like them, then yes, by all means collect them.

The moral story apart, they are still a part of history and as such, deserve to be retained. As others have mentioned, many nations have gone to war or invaded others but it doesn't mean we don't collect their coins. For example, Viking and Roman coins which still remain are sought after and often worth a lot yet they weren't all a friendly bunch of people, raping an pillaging along the way. Yet they are collected because they are examples of their time on this earth, depicting their leaders or cultural beliefs and are tokens of their worth in the day (or not if you read KDave's post - wow, you are so knowlegable ). This period is still living history in my family and of course, should not be forgotten. Unfortunately like so much history, instead of learning from it, humans have a habit of repeating it.

[SILVERFINGER]

My profile picture is of my 1939 dated nazi era Walther PPK which is absolutely beautiful workmanship, I have 9 German WW2 era guns (plus other nations),  people like German stuff for all different reasons, the high quality and the late war low quality and shortcuts and inventivenes, they were the first big recyclers of captured and altered military weapons, their uniforms were extremely smart compared to ours, but being designed by Hugo Boss of aftershave fame I am not surprised, then there is the attraction of the infamy and evilness of it all, which fascinates many people,  much the same why people like to keep poisonous snakes as pets I guess.

And before anyone says I am a nazi I aint, I research WW2 weaponary and write about it, I have nearly 40 weapons, 100 of ordnance and probaby close to 300 books on all aspects of WW2 of all nations.

 

 

[StackerNoob]

10 hours ago, SILVERFINGER said:

My profile picture is of my 1939 dated nazi era Walther PPK which is absolutely beautiful workmanship, I have 9 German WW2 era guns (plus other nations),  people like German stuff for all different reasons, the high quality and the late war low quality and shortcuts and inventivenes, they were the first big recyclers of captured and altered military weapons, their uniforms were extremely smart compared to ours, but being designed by Hugo Boss of aftershave fame I am not surprised, then there is the attraction of the infamy and evilness of it all, which fascinates many people,  much the same why people like to keep poisonous snakes as pets I guess.

And before anyone says I am a nazi I aint, I research WW2 weaponary and write about it, I have nearly 40 weapons, 100 of ordnance and probaby close to 300 books on all aspects of WW2 of all nations.

A lovely collection in stunning condition! I too am interested in WWII, but not to the extent you are admittedly. So much history in those pieces and lets not forgot that a Walther was a prized trophy of allied soldiers.

 

Again, we are so focused on making sure people know we are not nazis that some of us will not even contemplate owning such pieces.

You yourself felt the need, understandably so, to tell people that you are not in fact a nazi. How sad is that? Surely we should assume first that you are a history buff, secondly that you might be an antiques dealer of some kind, and a very distant third, that you might be a nazi sympathiser?

I have the same issue with my copy of Mein Kampf. I was going to take it on my commute to pass the time but thought better of it knowing the looks I would get!

 

EDIT: In fact, I would go even further and suggest that the fear of being labeled a nazi is probably putting some people off posting in this very thread. I guarentee there a a few members reading and wanting to contribute, but are so scared of being associated with the topic they choose not to post anything! Come on in guys and gals! I promise we arent trying to indoctrinate you!

[KevinG]

19 hours ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

I have a fair few German Colonial Rupies. I like those pieces. 

German colonial coinage is beautiful indeed. I would love to have a piece from German New Guinea.

[SILVERFINGER]

I remember going through a huge box of mixed coins a dealer had just put out at an antiques centre, to pull out any WW2 dated ones in the 1980's, I saw an unusual one with an elephant on the back, think it was German, when I got home I could of kicked myself over and over for not buying it, turned out to be made of gold.

Of course it had been sold when I went back the next day ?