25 Pfennig - Wilhelm II Pattern

Pattern coinage from the German Empire's pre-war years was rarely produced for public circulation — these pieces were struck to test designs, compositions, or denominations under consideration by the Reichsmünzamt. The 25 Pfennig denomination itself had a troubled institutional history; a circulating 25 Pfennig coin had been absent from the imperial system for decades, and various proposals to reintroduce it never achieved the necessary consensus among the federal states that shared minting authority. This piece represents one such proposal, apparently tested in silver-plated bronze as a potential cost-saving composition. It went nowhere.