Germany Prussia 5 Mark (Fakes are possible) 1877 and 1878

The German State of Prussia issued several 5 mark coins, but this is the only one issued in gold. All the others are silver. 1877 is the more common date. The coin in the picture is from 1878, and it is worth a little more than its 1877 cousin.

CoinQuest thanks Briefmarken Witte in Paderborn, Germany for use of their coin image. It is a beauty.

The base value (BV) of your coins (often called the melt value) comes from its raw gold content. Prussian 5 mark gold contains 0.0576 troy ounces of the precious metal. At today's 'weak dollar' market, gold is trading around $1275 US dollars per troy ounce. Multiplying that figure by 0.057 gives the melt value: $73 US dollars. Use kitco.com to find the current value of gold. It changes every day.

But these old coins are worth more than their basic gold melt value. Added to the base value is numismatic (coin collector) value. These old coins from Prussia are fairly rare coins and collector demand is strong. Approximate catalog values are:

worn: BV + $100
average circulated: BV + $200
well preserved: BV + $350
fully uncirculated: BV + $700

With scratches, stains, spots, or cleanings, collector value decreases rapidly toward zero dollars, so the coin is worth melt only.

NEVER CLEAN A COIN. CLEANING RUINS VALUE.

As with all valuable coins, you must watch out for counterfeits. The example below is an obvious fake (the date is wrong), but you can also see marked deviations in pattern and a strong deficiency in overall quality.

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