Did you mean 10 Mark? There is no 1907 20 Mark coin of Frederick Augustus (assuming it is this). I checked the Krause catalogue but there was no match. Any images?
Maybe that's why I'm having trouble finding it. It looks exactly like the 1905 20 mark, weighs the same, and has the edge lettering, but is a 1907 mint date. I'll get some good photos and post them.
Here's some pics. Hope they load.
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With an indication that this mint date does not exist, could/would this be a forgery? Here's what was quoted in Currency Wiki: "Between these years, a total of at least 946,507 examples were minted, with at least 86 being struck in proof quality." Consider the source, first. Does this mean its real and not a forgery?
Citeer: "stevieb49829"Here's some pics. Hope they load.
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With an indication that this mint date does not exist, could/would this be a forgery?
Hmmm, it certainly looks like a more sophisticated fake if that's what it is, but surely the impossible date means it cannot be authentic. Perhaps someone had it made as a fantasy/replica with the date to make sure it wasn't mistaken for a real coin?
Have you tried weighing it, and testing for gold? If it is made of gold, it may still have bullion value.
Since imperial gold coins are a popular collection area, there are unfortunately many counterfeits here. This is most commonly found in the five-mark Reichs gold coins. Here, it is about 90% of all circulating pieces are counterfeits. The most famous counterfeiters of imperial gold coins were the German ophthalmologist dr. med. Karl-Heinz Schmidt and his sister Ilone Eva Hausmann. They coined in a big way hundreds of thousands of imperial gold coins very professionally and sold them as original Reichsgoldnachprägungen, which at that time (1959 to 1962) was still legal. Later, the reprinting of former German circulating gold coins without embossed marking was criminalized and the two were sentenced to prison in 1963 and fined. Until then, however, they had already brought so many Reichsgold falsifications into circulation that for many years even banks sold them as investment gold coins at the counter. Coin experts can spot the counterfeits today, so you should buy real gold coins only from trusted traders. Schmidt-Hausmann falsifications are very often offered especially in Internet auction platforms today.
Multiple posts there say that fakes of 20 Mark Gold coins were often made of non-existent dates, so I'm now 90% sure your coin is such a reproduction. It may still have gold value though.
I'll test it for weight and gold (specific gravity?). But I'm much more interested to find out if its really a fake, and the history behind that happening - in relation to how it came into my mother's possession. It could have traveled through my grandfather's possession too.
Citeer: "stevieb49829"The REAL question: Why would someone fake this coin, but make it out of the same weight of gold?
Possibly as a replica, or just as an interesting design for a gold bullion coin. The forum I linked above notes that "so many of these Schmidt-Hausmann fakes were around that jewellery counters were selling and buying them", indicating that they likely had at least some precious metal content.
This seems to be the definitive answer, from muenzen-linnartz: "Not existing as a genuine coin. Only knewn (known) as fake (made in Italy 1970-1990)". I still don't know if it has gold bullion value, but it seems likely with its weight and size. I'll be doing the investigation into gold value next.
