The significant number of coins marking the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II probably will come to be an important category for collectors. Among the new releases is a four-coin set of .999 fine gold proof commemoratives from the Island of Jersey. The island is celebrating the date of its own liberation, May 9, 1945. Images on the coins show the dove of peace flying over the island, crossed flags, the arrival of the first Red Cross supply ship and islanders greeting British troops.
The series will also offer a 2-pound silver piedfort and silver proof. The set will sell for $1,595; the silver piedfort, $89.50; and the silver proof, $49.50. Queries go to the British Royal Mint, Box 772570, Woodside, N.Y. 11377.
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Collectors of German coins face a field as wide and varied as that of Roman coinage. Each German state minted coins until Germany was united as an empire in 1871, and united again and again in the 20th Century as wars caused political changes in the country. The latest unification came in 1989, when East Germany was reunited with West Germany.
The historical attraction of coinage from tiny principalities is substantial. Many of those states struck big, beautiful coins celebrating their princes. Symbolism and iconography on the coins supply further interest.
Sorting them all out is part the fun German coins offer a collector. The newly issued “Standard Catalog of German Coins,” by N. Douglas Nicol (Krause Publications, $59), offers a phone book-size survey of the field. The book starts with the year 1601, recent by German standards but a date at which German states began to be independent of the Holy Roman Empire and to strike their own coinage.
Often the coinage produced profits for the prince or bishop who ruled, and the coins usually portrayed the ruler. Elaborate monograms, heraldic scenes and historic events appeared on the coins.
The new reference book devotes most of its space to the German states. Other areas of coinage covered include colonial coins and coins of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the post-war era.
