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Before the outbreak of World War I, the
German economy began to feel the effects of panic hoarding of bullion money by
the population. First, gold 10 and 20 markka coins began to
disappear from the market, then silver coins, and finally small copper, nickel
and iron coins began to disappear. This situation was to be cured
by the start of private issues of various types of vouchers facilitating mutual
settlements between the population. In 1914, the first vouchers (notgeld)
appeared, containing on a scrap of paper usually only the face value, seal and
signature, or possibly the name of the town. Over time, however,
their production reached the technical level of normal banknotes - but generally
they were to be distinguished by at least a smaller size, shape, or material
used (colored paper, textile material, cardboard, etc.). Several
tens of thousands of such banknotes are known and cataloged. In
addition to bills, substitute coins made of iron, zinc, aluminum, brass, copper,
nickel, cardboard, often of very strange shapes - oval, square, wavy, octagonal,
with holes cut out, etc., were minted at the same time. It happened
that issues that were attractive in terms of graphics were delivered to
collectors immediately after their release.
In the 1920s, one of the unusual
materials for the production of coins was porcelain. Not for the
first time - see Chinese and Siamese porcelain coins. Porcelain
coins, despite sometimes large expenditures, rather did not circulate in the
normal circulation of money - they were, however, eagerly collected by the
population.
Thanks to the adventurer - alchemist
Johann Friedrich Böttger in 1709 in the workshop of Walter von Tschirnhaus the
Chinese monopoly on the production of porcelain was broken.
Instead of gold, Böttger - a subject of
August II the Strong, brought his ruler considerable income from the porcelain
production technology he invented. A year after the discovery, the
first porcelain manufactory in Meissen began to flourish. https://tramp.travel.pl/publikacja.php?p=id34strona1/
There are two types of porcelain:
hard porcelain
with a composition of 40-60% kaolin, 20-30% quartz, 20-30% feldspar (part of the
kaolin can be replaced with clay burning white)
soft with
a composition of 25-40% kaolin, 30-45% quartz, 25-40% feldspar
Unglazed porcelain, the so-called bisque
- firing temperature 920 - 980 degrees C
Glazed porcelain - firing temperature
1280-1460 degrees C
Porcelain coins were made of plaster and
steel stamps. Virtually all proof coins and medals up to 100 pieces
come from plaster dies:
The prepared clay mixture is placed in
plaster stamps by injection or by pouring it into plaster molds. For
a period of 2 weeks at a temperature of 60 degrees, the formed coin is dried. Then,
dried, it is fired at a temperature of about 1200 degrees for 24 hours. The
coin loses about 1/6 of its volume in this way. After cooling down,
it is ground and polished. The brown biscuit is lightly oiled. Some
coins and medals are additionally decorated with gilding, silvering of the edges
and relief. Sometimes staining the edges in black or green was
used. Each of the coins was painted by hand. Such
decorations were subjected to additional heat treatment at a temperature of
about 800 degrees.
Typical porcelain coins of brown and
white porcelain with ornaments are shown in the photo of the 10 mark coin of the
city of Meissen:
COMPANIES PRODUCING PORCELAIN AND CLAY
COINS:
1. Staatliche Porzellan Manufaktur
Meissen
2. Meissner Ofen- und Porzellanfabrik
(C.Teichert)
3. Branch in Bitterfeld as above
4. Bunzlauer Keramische Werkstätten
Reinhold & Co.
1 2.
Porzellanfabriken in _ _ _ _
Stadt Lengsfeld 13. Porzellanfabrik Pfeffer in Gotha 14.
Majolika- Werke in Gaildorf
CLASSIFICATION OF PORCELAIN COINS ACCORDING TO Scheuch :