10 Deutsche Mark Anniversary of Constitution

The 1999 date is deliberate: this coin marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), which came into force on 23 May 1949. The Grundgesetz was drafted under Allied occupation with the explicit expectation that it would be temporary — a provisional constitution until reunification. That reunification came in 1990, yet the Basic Law survived intact as the permanent constitutional framework of the enlarged Federal Republic, a political outcome few of its drafters anticipated.

Struck in the final year of the Deutsche Mark's practical existence before euro coins entered circulation in 2002.