5 Mark Hamburg; Counterfeit

KM#610 is a silver coin — 0.900 fine, struck at the Hamburg mint during the final years of the city-state's autonomous coinage before German Imperial standardization absorbed local issues entirely. This example is a contemporary or later counterfeit struck in nickel-clad steel, a composition that betrays it immediately on a scale. Hamburg issued the 5 Mark type in genuine silver from 1891 through 1903, making this the final year of the legitimate series — a detail counterfeiters likely exploited given collector demand for last-year pieces.