A Collector Shares a 1916 German East Africa Brass 20 Heller on CoinTalk

This article is based on posts in a thread on CoinTalk, an online forum for coin collectors, titled "A coin borne of warfare: German East Africa c. 1916." It is not a report of a new event. A collector shared a brass 20 heller coin dated 1916 from German East Africa. The history and quality descriptions below are the posters' own accounts and opinions.

The coin the poster shared

The poster who started the thread, "The Meat man," wrote that they first came across this type in one of Heritage's Shipwreck Auctions.

The poster listed the coin as follows: brass 20 heller, 29.0 mm, 10.55 g, dated 1916, from the emergency mint at Tabora in German East Africa. The obverse shows a crown with ribbon above "1916," the letters "DOA," and a "T" mintmark below. The reverse shows "20 HELLER" in two lines within a wreath. The poster gave the reference as Numista 37340 and the mintage as 1,600,000.

The poster wrote that, given the poor quality control, finding a nice specimen is tough, and that, in the poster's view, this piece is better than most.

The background, as the poster described it

According to the poster, when the coastal capital of German East Africa, Dar es Salaam, was threatened and bombarded by British naval forces in July 1916, German authorities moved the capital 460 miles inland to Tabora, the largest settlement in the interior.

The poster wrote that, being essentially cut off from Europe, the Germans were forced to issue local emergency coins and banknotes to pay their askari troops.

At Tabora, the poster wrote, a makeshift mint was set up in an old postal railway workshop, run by a handful of native laborers under German supervision. Brass guns and shell casings were melted down for the coins, which were struck using machinery salvaged from the wreck of the light cruiser SMS Königsberg. The poster noted that the British had destroyed the ship in July of the previous year.

The poster also wrote that the primitive conditions and hurried production show in the coins' crudeness, with many examples showing weak or off-center strikes.

Other posts in the thread

Another member, "Hiddendragon," posted another example and said it was not as well made as the one in the original post. "The Meat man" replied that there are a number of varieties of differing rarities, that "The Meat man" believes their own is the most common, and that the Hiddendragon coin appears to have a larger crown, which is more scarce.

Later, "The Meat man" reported obtaining another 1916 20 heller of a slightly scarcer variety with a large crown and different style lettering. This one was listed at 28.8 mm and 11.39 g, with the reference Numista 37340, type A/A.

A member named "panzerman" posted a gold 15 rupien coin from German East Africa. "The Meat man" wrote that it was also minted in Tabora and that the Germans took greater care in minting the gold pieces than the brass and copper ones.

Source: CoinTalk, "A coin borne of warfare: German East Africa c. 1916" (forum thread; no posting date given in the source).