Danzig 10 pfennig 1920

Good morning and Happy New Year!

I've a coin in ZInc 10 Pfennig Danzig, like the one in your catalog which diameter is 21,8 mm and the weight is 1,9 g.

Do you have any information about such coin with these specifications?

Thank you very much for your attention. Greetings

Carlos Morais Aniceto

It’s notgeld 

In Numista it is listed as regular circulation coinage:

N#70311

It is on my list of post WW1 notgeld in zinc 

otecina

 

I've a coin in ZInc 10 Pfennig Danzig, like the one in your catalog which diameter is 21,8 mm and the weight is 1,9 g.

Do you have any information about such coin with these specifications?

 

Under article 100 of Treaty of Versailles Germany made Danzig free city to give Poland sea access. Until Danzig gulden was established in 1923 they used German Papiermark (equal to 100 pfennig) suplemented by locally issued notes and coins to finance local offices. In three years Papiermark experienced hyperinflation and lost most of its value. By 1923 metal in that coin was probably worth more than its face value.

If Remark's Black Obelisk is accurate new money issued by Danzig authorities and Weimar republic to replace Papiermark did not exchange Papiermark for new currency. So there is no exchange rate of Papiermark to Danzig gulden. Approximate exchange rate was probably around 500 billion papiermark for gulden.

If you were looking for that kind of information, here you go.

Approximate exchange rate was probably around 500 billion papiermark for gulden.

Almost. The exchange rate between Danziger/German Notgeld (Papiermark) and the (new) Gulden was 750 billion to 1 Gulden. This exchange rate was established on the 31st of December 1923.

Now, when it comes to the 10 Pfennig coin, this coin, if real, is an absolutely amazing find! Congratulations to the owner. If you want to find out something about the varieties, here is a page. There are four known varieties and all of them differ in the most minor details. 

https://www.notgeld.com.pl/polskie/index.php?co=gdansk&l=pl

The history of these coins is very interesting. The variety with the small ‘10’ has 60 known varieties/combinations and 20 carved dies. The coin that you own has four known combinations, due to the significantly lower mintage (about 124k, compared to 876k with the small ‘10') This high number stems from the fact that the dies were carved by hand, either in the “Danziger Gewehrfabrik” or the jeweller “Stumpf und Sohn” (their jewellery is highly collectible and rare today). The coin was minted because the city lacked a small circulating coin, which negatively impacted day-to-day transactions. So, they signed a treaty with the Weimar Republic, which allowed them to strike these coins. 

But, sadly, the projects of Ernst Petersen and Georg Böcker weren't really popular. People didn't really like them, as zinc coins were…well, quite ugly and they didn't last long. 

Not only that, the inflation was rising. Very quickly. It only took about a year for these coins to lose all of their value. Example: Sending a letter.

First half of 1921: 60 Pfennig.

First half of 1922: 3 Mark.

First half of 1923: 300 Mark.

So, these coins were basically useless, meaning that banknotes took over.

These should be listed as Notgeld (emergency coinage post WWI) but Numista has some of the notgeld listed as regular coinage. It's a matter of interpretation by the original cataloger, I've had to search in both locations (reg. & exonumia) on occasion. Your specimen looks nice, and Danzig is a special place as opposed to just another German location (or Poland). The obverse appears to show some remaining plating, which might place it in an AU condition. For a value reference you could search MA-Shops in Europe. There I observed many examples with prices ALL OVER THE PLACE (typical of MA-Shops, with shipping now UNAFFORDABLE) - from nice ones < $50 to nice ones >$1000!  I'd guess an eBay seller could sell (or get) one for $80 - $260 (confirmed, prices there are highly variable as well, watch and determine if yours is a variety, i.e. ‘small 10.’