100 Euros The Broken Jug

Part of Germany's ongoing "German Forest" gold series, this issue commemorates Heinrich von Kleist's 1811 comedy Der zerbrochne Krug — one of the most performed German-language stage works ever written. Kleist finished the play after a disastrous collaborative trip to Switzerland with Christoph Martin Wieland, and its themes of corrupt provincial justice gave it uncomfortable resonance during both the Nazi period and the GDR years, when productions were occasionally suppressed or heavily edited.

Wait — that's the wrong series. This belongs to Germany's "Masterworks of German Art" program, not the forest series. The .9999 fineness places it among the purer gold issues in the Bundesrepublik program.

Part of the Bundesrepublik's "Masterworks of German Art" coin program, this issue draws on Heinrich von Kleist's 1811 comedy Der zerbrochne Krug. Kleist completed the play years before its 1808 Weimar premiere under Goethe's direction — a production so poorly received, with Goethe splitting the single-act play across three evenings, that it was pulled after one night. The play's reputation recovered only after Kleist's death in 1811.