1 Mark - Wilhelm II type 2 - small shield - Pattern

Pattern coinage from Imperial Germany rarely escaped the mint in any quantity, and this aluminium-plated copper piece represents experimental work conducted as the Kaiserreich weighed alternatives to silver for subsidiary coinage — a pressure that would become acute within two years of this piece's striking. The small shield reverse type had already been in production in .900 silver since 1891, making a 1912 pattern in base metal a late-stage probe rather than a design trial.

No transition to this composition was ever implemented for the 1 Mark denomination under Wilhelm II. The war did the deciding instead, with silver marks disappearing from circulation by 1916.