Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Mark - Wilhelm II
| Issuer | Neu-Guinea Compagnie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1895 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The denomination and issuer's name are displayed within an open wreath of palm fronds tied at the base, with the numeral '20' at the top center followed by 'NEU-GUINEA MARK' and the date '1895' arranged in stacked lines. The circular legend 'NEU-GUINEA COMPAGNIE' runs along the upper periphery. The mint mark 'A' for the Berlin Mint appears in the lower exergue below the wreath. A beaded border encircles the entire reverse design, consistent with the obverse treatment. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Neu-Guinea Compagnie was a private chartered company granted authority over German New Guinea in 1885, and for a brief window it held the extraordinary right to issue its own coinage — one of the last instances of a private colonial trading company exercising that privilege anywhere in the world. This 1895 issue was struck at the Berlin mint, but the company's administrative failures were already terminal by that point; the German Imperial government absorbed its territorial functions just two years later in 1899.
Mintage was exceptionally small, and most pieces were repatriated or melted rather than circulating meaningfully in the colony itself.