3 Mark

Lübeck was one of only a handful of German federal states still exercising the right to strike commemorative silver-denomination coinage in the final years of the Empire, a privilege jealously maintained by the old Hanseatic cities despite pressure toward monetary centralization from Berlin. This 1913 issue was struck in aluminium-plated copper rather than silver — almost certainly a pattern or essai rather than a circulation piece — as the standard currency 3 Mark coins of the period were .900 fine silver.