Well, again it is time to dispell the rumours of what is real and what is fake in the collecting game. Time and time again, militaria and coin sellers purporting to offer real (made when they were supposed to be!) items for sale to unsuspecting ebayers, often hide the fact that they are either reproductions or just fakes. This small guide will help the ebayer tell the difference. If you read on and enjoy what you see, please post a positive vote for the guide (see bottom).

Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, and as such, he had the majority of seats in the German lower house of parliament, giving him and his Nazi party unlimited power to change and manipulate German law. His new style of leadership and political thinking made a gradual impact upon the people of not only Germany, but by the 1940's, the whole world.

One of his first edicts was to have the national coinage and paper money supply changed, to better represent the old germanic and new nazi ideologies. The old weimar rentenmark was scrapped and a new system of curreny, the Reichsmark was introduced. From 1933, the new 1 Reichsmark (RM) coin was introduced, followed in 1934 by the 5 RM coin. 5 RM coins wore also minted in 1935, 1936 (all with Imperial eagle without swastika), with latter 1936 coins minted with the eagle and swasyika in a wreath. In the years, 1937, 1938 and 1939 the Nazi eagle appeared on the 2 RM coins. These 2 & 5 RM coins contained large amounts of silver, with the 2 RM coin containing 62.5% and 5 RM containing 90% silver.

The 2 & 5 Reichsmark coins minted between 1934 and 1939 all bore (with the exception of the 1934/35 5 RM coin - showing the famous Potsdam Church) on the reverse, the bust of the second president of Germany and famed WW1 hero, Field Marshall Paul Von Hindenburg. Hindenburg had died in 1934 and once dead, Hitler named himself Reichpresident, combining his own Chancellors (Prime Minister) and Presidents positions in one. In honour, or as I suspect out of remorse, Hilter proclaimed this to be the official representation.

Various mints were authorised to produce these coins and various mint marks will appear on these coins, running from A through to J, which should appear on the bottom left hand side of the reverse (back collar of the preseidents head). To add to the regalia, each 2 & 5 RM coin had an inscription around the rim of 'Gemeinutz geht vor eigennutz', meaning Public interest before self interest - quite ironic given Hitler's flagrant abuse of power!

Mint codes for 2 & 5 RM coins: A-Berlin, B-Vienna, D-Munich, E-Muldenhutten, F-Stuttgart, G-Karlsruhe & J-Hamburg.

The vast majority of fake 2 & 5 RM coins that are flooding the market are directly from China and poorer quality restrikes from pakistan. The Pakistani copies are very easy to detect, being very poor, clumsy restrike and moulded varieties, which even blind Freddy could detect. the Chinese are commonly very good lazer copies, with fine details, but little or no wear signs. For these coins to be this fine and mint, they would need to have been minted, stored in Hitler's bunker and liberated yesterday! Some appear without the inscritpion, or are of the wrong spelling, which over the years has exposed these to the keen eye.

The last variety of copies, I like to call the 'Gold Plated' varieties. These are currently made in the US and it is a simple process of taking an original 2 & 5 RM coin (often the smaller denominations are also being plated) and gold plating them, through electrostatic plating. They are exactly the same as when you see people gold plating their bumpers on their cars and jewellery. They are in my opinion, cheap, tacky and just down right sleazy! Put the low cut, hairy chest in the mix and you've got your mental picture that's in mine every time I see these for sale. However, if you want one, they usually retail very cheaply. Just google/ebay search 'Gold plated nazi coins' and you'll see a whole list. In my opinion, they are worthless, as they have been refinished and the original value all gone.

Again, these were never gold plated at any time before 1945 by the nazis, and all have been thinly gold plated since the 1990's by various US coin companies.

I have seen one notable seller of reproductions list these for upwards of $60 each! A mere $50 more than the leading websites are selling them for!!!  In the end it's your choice to throw your money away.

I hope this little read has helped you understand the basic history and features of the real and reproduction coins. I have been selling original nazi coins on ebay, with hundreds of satisfied customers to my name. I am more than happy to answer your questions and welcome you as a valued customer. Hopefully you can enjoy collecting these as much as I enjoy selling them! Please view these coins in my sellers list and leave a positive vote below if you gained some useful knowledge on this subject.

Regards, Fred.