OK they are not the real McCoy. In many cases the real McCoy is completely unobtainable to the average and even the specialist collector through their scarcity (and cost). There have been many City State and City View thalers restruck over the past half century, many made to satisfy collector demand, and made using dies copied from originals in museums. Others have been made for the tourist industry. Most people would have no problem differentiating between an original and a restrike, however some of these are so good that they would (IMHO) often fool the experts.

I have a soft spot for city view thalers, and the unusual. As such, when I saw a few restrikes of rare pieces I was hooked.

Here's a few for starters.

Very nice. I believe that reproductions have a valid place in a collection.

I think so too. Here is one of my favourites. It has toned in purplish hues on the obverse due to the plastic presentation case it was originally packaged in.

A replica of the Koln (Cologne) city view taler of 1705.

My those are nice.

Those are nice, Ian!

Thanks.

This one is soooo well done (IMHO) that it is scary. If not for the small stamp on the shoulder (near the rim) I believe that the majority of German Taler collectors would quite readily accept it as genuine. As it is, it is easy to overlook the presence of the stamp because the eye immediately accepts the piece as genuine. The strike, patination, and weight are nigh on perfect. It was issued in Germany as a money raiser for a medical charity. I scanned it with the accompanying packaging.

This one is from a series entitled `Deutsche Stadtethaler vom 16.-19. Jahrhundert' produced by B.H.Mayer, an old family owned mint at Pforzheim in Germany. It consisted of 26 replica pieces of various city states all copied in silver from original dies.

They were minted originally on the basis of subscription in the early 80's.

When I first came across these I was hooked! I used to collect them on an individual basis scouring the web and auction catalogues, buying whenever they made an appearance. However in a stroke of good fortune about four years ago I managed to buy a complete set of 26 including original paperwork and album. Having since corresponded with the mints owners, I discovered that due to the silver markets at the time (80's) many of the original subscribers dropped out due to the rocketing increase in costs (silver was as high as $80 per ounce at one stage). As such, while the series still progressed the actual numbers minted (especially of the later pieces) dropped significantly. A case of the replicas becoming almost too expensive to produce. As a result, ironically some of the replicas are about as scarce as the real McCoy.

This following images are of the fifth coin issued in the series. I'm showing it first because it's my favourite. A Regimentstaler from the city state of Ravensburg dated 1624. It's 47mm, and a pretty hefty piece of silver. It could double as an ice hockey puck substitute in an emergency I guess

Ian

Another few re-strike City View type talers from the same series as the Cologne one. The first is Dresden, the second is Embden, and the third is Erfurt.