10 euro collector coins 2012

Coin gallery

10 euro commemorative coins 2012 in mint gloss condition

The 10 euro commemorative coins are available in brilliant uncirculated mint quality, in a copper-nickel alloy (CuNi25). The coins in the higher quality mint gloss collector quality are made of silver (625 silver/375 copper). They are identified by the imprint “SILBER 625” (SILVER 625).

The 10 euro silver commemorative coins in “mint gloss” quality are available to purchase here from the Official Sales Agency for Collector Coins of the Federal Republic of Germany.

  • 300th Birthday of Frederick II

    300th Birthday of Frederick II

    Frederick the Great (*1712, Berlin; †1786, Potsdam), also known as “Old Fritz”, was the Prussian King from 1740 to 1786 and saw himself as the “first servant of the State”.

    The main motif selected by the artist was the only authentic portrait from the 46-year reign of Frederick the Great. The circumscription details the reason for the issue of the coin along with a keynote quotation from the monarch. At the center of the balanced composition, the mature king, who is presenting himself as a European ruler, looks at the observer openly and candidly. The design impresses through the convincing use of a relief of the portrait by the Brunswick court painter Ziesenis from 1763. The quotation stems from the King’s first days in government (June 1740) and is a clear statement of tolerance and autonomy. Overall, it communicates the current messages of the anniversary in 2012, to understand Frederick II as a European ruler of the 18th century, as in the age of Enlightenment. The artist continues the clear styling and typography of the front side on the value side of the coin, which is determined by a striking German eagle.” The smooth coin edge bears the in-set inscription:MICH MEINEN MITBÜRGERN NÜTZLICH ERWEISEN (TO PROVE MYSELF USEFUL TO MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN)

    Issue limit: 170,000 coins
    Issue date: February 9, 2012
    Mint: Berlin
    Mint mark: A
    Weight: 16 g
    Material: Silver 625 Ag/375 Cu
    Diameter: 32.5 mm
    Edge lettering: MICH MEINEN MITBÜRGERN NÜTZLICH ERWEISEN (TO PROVE MYSELF USEFUL TO MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN)
    Artist: Erich Ott, Munich
    Sales price: The official issue price was set at €21.81.
  • 50 Years of Deutsche Welthungerhilfe

    50 Years of Deutsche Welthungerhilfe

    The German Welthungerhilfe aid agency, since its foundation in 1962, has become of the biggest private aid organizations in Germany for people in need in developing countries.

    The motif is impressively reduced down to the archetypes of hunger and poverty, parched and exhausted soil, drought and low crop yields. It is eye-catching due to its clarity, provoking thought and encouraging empathy, allowing the holder to feel the problem with their fingers on the cracked soil surface. The design causes the holder to turn the coin over several times before spending it, and raises people’s awareness of their own handling of natural resources. The motif obligates us to take independent action, to provide aid, so that these resources can again provide the people living in poverty with the basis to overcome hunger.” The smooth coin edge bears the in-set inscription: HILFE ZUR SELBSTHILFE (HELPING PEOPLE TO HELP THEMSELVES)

    Issue limit: 160,000 coins
    Issue date: April 12, 2012
    Mint: Karlsruhe
    Mint mark: G
    Weight: 16 g
    Material: Silver 625 Ag/375 Cu
    Diameter: 32.5 mm
    Edge lettering: HILFE ZUR SELBSTHILFE (HELPING PEOPLE TO HELP THEMSELVES)
    Artist: Elena Gerber, Berlin
    Sales price: The official issue price was set at €21.15.
  • 200 Years of Grimm’s Fairy Tales

    200 Years of Grimm’s Fairy Tales

    In 1812 the first collection of the world-famous “Children’s and Household Fairy Tales” by Jacob (*1785, Hanau; †1863, Berlin) and Wilhelm Grimm (*1786, Hanau; †1859, Berlin), was published in Berlin.

    The design of the image side picks up on the example of the double portrait of the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, etched by their “painter brother” Ludwig Emil Grimm, in which both faces are combined in a fine surface and positioned against the coin field. The circumscription in dignified and modern Antiqua is legible at a glance. The value side continues the rounded design of the image side: The circumscription and value information as well as the crown of stars pick up the centrally aligned composition, and the plainness of the clearly executed eagle contrasts with the portrait. The coordinated overall design brings the world of the Brothers Grimm into the present day in a delicately shimmering image.
    The value side of the coin features an eagle, the circumscription “BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND 2012” (FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY 2012) with the twelve stars of Europe and the “10 euro” value designation as well as the mint mark “F” for the State Mints of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart (Staatliche Münzen Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart). The smooth coin edge bears the in-set inscription: “UND WENN SIE NICHT GESTORBEN SIND...” (AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER...)

    Issue limit: 160,000 coins
    Issue date: June 14, 2012
    Mint: Stuttgart
    Mint mark: F
    Weight: 16 g
    Material: Silver 625 Ag/375 Cu
    Diameter: 32.5 mm
    Edge lettering: UND WENN SIE NICHT GESTORBEN SIND... (AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER...)
    Artist: Prof. Christian Höpfner, Berlin
    Sales price: The official issue price was set at €20.71.
  • 100th Anniversary of the German National Library

    100th Anniversary of the German National Library

    Since 1913, the German National Library has had the task of collecting and archiving all German and German-language media works in text, image and sound.

    The “100 Years of the German National Library” theme is implemented in interrelated symbols, which are impressive both in detail and as an overall composition. The linearity and also the overall characteristic style of the image side are repeated on the value side and therefore both sides together create an energetic, dynamic and young composition. The image side depicts a face, which represents a reader in the library, but also shows the objects collected in the library: Books and letters, binary signs for the digital world and clefs representing music and recording media. This combination of use and collection, people and work, is an apt characterization of the library. It is an abstraction from the specific structural conditions, locations and images and depicts everything that makes up the content of the German National Library.
    The value side is a successful combination of sovereign and dignified eagle and artistic significance. In its corresponding sign language, it is a wonderful counterpart to the image side.” The smooth coin edge bears the in-set inscription: BÜCHER SIND DER EINGANG ZUR WELT (BOOKS ARE THE KEY TO THE WORLD)

    Issue limit: 150,000 coins
    Issue date: September 13, 2012
    Mint: Munich
    Mint mark: D
    Weight: 16 g
    Material: Silver 625 Ag/375 Cu
    Diameter: 32.5 mm
    Edge lettering: BÜCHER SIND DER EINGANG ZUR WELT (BOOKS ARE THE KEY TO THE WORLD)
    Artist: Victor Huster, Baden-Baden
    Sales price: The official issue price was set at €21.97.
  • 150th Birthday of Gerhart Hauptmann

    150th Birthday of Gerhart Hauptmann

    The great novelist and dramatist Gerhart Hauptmann (*1862, Ober Salzbrunn, Silesia; †1946, Agnetendorf, Silesia) received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1912.

    On November 10, 2011 a jury of seven, chaired by the medalist Hubertus von Pilgrim, judged the competition for the design of a 10 euro commemorative coin for 2012. Ten artists were invited to participate in this single stage competition. The design by the medalist Jordi Truxa from Berlin won the award and was recommended for implementation.

    In the right-hand half of the design, we see Gerhart Hauptmann in profile, in a graphically reduced form, based on the lithography of Karl Bauer (1903). The design impresses through the addition of a large sheet of paper and a quill, symbolizing the poet’s productive activity. This addition does not diminish the power of the portrait illustration; the contrast of the empty and detailed area lends the design an individual element of suspense. The font, as edge lettering, is clearly legible, and is limited, with a certain delicacy, to the right-hand side of the coin. The relationship between the three areas (portrait, attributes, lettering) is tense yet coherent.
    In analogy to the image side, the eagle is also slightly to the right of center on the value side. The eagle meets the specifications; within these limits, the detail of the wing design reveals design features that are remarkable and promote the unity of the whole.
    A jeder Mensch hat halt 'ne Sehnsucht (Every person has a sense of longing)(last sentence of Act III of Hauptmann’s “The Weavers”)

    Issue limit: 140,000 coins
    Issue date: November 8, 2012
    Mint: Hamburg
    Mint mark: J
    Weight: 16 g
    Material: Silver 625 Ag/375 Cu
    Diameter: 32.5 mm
    Edge lettering: A JEDER MENSCH HAT HALT 'NE SEHNSUCHT (EVERY PERSON HAS A SENSE OF LONGING)
    Artist: Jordi Truxa
    Sales price: The official issue price is €21.55.