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Militaria on coins...


Tiffibunny

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This is the "Military Bust" variety of Wilhelm II and a 3 year issue only. 

 

 

IMHO, an nice portrait. I've always liked the Prussian portraits even if Prussia was too militaristic for my tastes. Can't complain about their portraiture.

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On some German 5mark pieces are the Potsdam Garrison church. It was decorated with Prussian military honors. Frederick the Great and his father were entombed there.Sadly it was destroyed during WWII.One of my favorite coins.

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On some German 5mark pieces are the Potsdam Garrison church. It was decorated with Prussian military honors. Frederick the Great and his father were entombed there.Sadly it was destroyed during WWII.One of my favorite coins.

The "Garrison Church" coins come in three versions - 2 RM with date, 5 RM with and without date. They were issued by Nazi Germany and commemorate the reopening of the Reichtag after the parliament building in Berlin "parliament" was burned down.

 

By the way, the church was not "fully" destroyed in WW2. What was left of it after the war (primarily the tower) was torn down in 1968. The tower is currently being rebuilt, and the church could be reopened in about ten years.

 

Christian

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The first one is huge for the period, 71mm! It's a uniface tin medal with the French mint's chocolate artificial patina applied to it.

 

The event was the capture of 6 (some authorities say 8) Austrian grenadiers by a French light infantryman named Menin. Austrian grenadiers were considered some of the most formidable fighters of the time. The medal is unusual not only for its size but the depiction of both the floor and ceiling as well.

 

Well worth looking at the full-size picture. I notice that I was still soliciting info on the event when I first put up the page. Oh well, there's another page to update... :ninja:

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Thanks Christian. I think Frederick the great is now buried in Sans Soucci, do you know where his father is buried?

The sarcophagus of Friedrich d.Gr., and that of his father (Friedrich Wilhelm I.), used to be in the Garrison Church, and were transferred to Marburg (Elizabeth Church) shortly before the end of WW2. Then, between the mid-1950s and early 1990s, the sarcophagi were in Hohenzollern Castle. In 1990 or '91 the two were brought to Potsdam again, and are now in the "Kaiser-Friedrich-Mausoleum" in Sanssouci Park.

 

That building, about half way between the inner city and Sanssouci Castle, had been built for the German emperor (1888) Friedrich in the 19th century. Not that I am fond of the Prussian monarchy (the area around here on the Rhine got rid of it 60 years ago, after 130 years of Prussian rule) but Sanssouci sure is a place worth visiting. :ninja:

 

Christian

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