Designs of German currency
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German euro coins have three separate designs for the three series of coins. The 1-cent, 2-cent and 5-cent coins were designed by Rolf Lederbogen[de], the design for the 10-cent, 20-cent and 50-cent coins were designed by Reinhard Heinsdorff[de] and the 1- and 2-euro coins were done by Heinz Hoyer[de] and Sneschana Russewa-Hoyer. Featured in all designs are the 12 stars of the EU and the year of minting.
In addition to the year, the German coins also feature a small letter as a mint mark indicating the particular mint that minted the coin.
The letters were assigned to the mints as they opened. The mints in Hannover (B), Frankfurt am Main (C), and Darmstadt (H) were closed by 1882. Vienna was allocated the letter (B) shortly after the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 and it was in use until 1945. After the post-World War Two division of Germany, D, F, G and J minted coins for the Federal Republic of Germany, while the German Democratic Republic used Berlin (A) and Dresden/Muldenhütte (E) until it closed 1953. Berlin (A) started minting D Mark coins in 1990.
The edge lettering features the words "EINIGKEIT UND RECHT UND FREIHEIT" (Unity and Justice and Freedom), Germany's national motto and the incipit of Germany's national anthem.
Interpretation of the Bundesadler, symbol of German sovereignty.
Germany started the commemorative coin series Die 16 Bundesländer der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (The 16 States of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 2006, to continue until 2021. The year in which the coin for a specific state is issued coincides with that state's Presidency of the Bundesrat.[1] In 2018, Daniel Günther, the Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, became the President of the Bundesrat for a one-year term. As a Schleswig-Holstein coin had already been minted in 2006, it was decided to delay the release of the following three states' coins by a year. Instead of honouring a state in 2019, the minted coin commemorates 70 years since the constitution of the German Federal Council or Bundesrat. The last three coins of the series were therefore postponed to 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. The coins issued are:
In 2025, the German government decided to mint a €2 commemorative coin entitled “35 years of German unity”. The coin marks the start of a series entitled “Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit” (“Unity and justice and freedom”). As the series continues, one €2 commemorative coin honouring politicians whose actions particularly shaped the history of the Federal Republic of Germany will be issued each year.[2]
Schleswig-Holstein
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Hamburg
Saarland
Bremen
North Rhine-Westphalia
Bavaria
Baden-Württemberg
Lower Saxony
Hesse
Saxony
Rhineland-Palatinate
Berlin
Brandenburg
Saxony-Anhalt
Thuringia
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