The coin scandal of Karlsruhe - when collector's items became counterfeit money!

The coin scandal of Karlsruhe - when collector's items became counterfeit money!

In the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a scandal in the state coin Baden-Württemberg in Karlsruhe, which shocked the coin collectors and the public. As Ka-News County blanket, which was founded in 1715 and was provided with the embossing mark G, illegally shaped coins. The scandals in Karlsruhe, a city that played an important role in German coin history for centuries, show how money and greed can become a veritable problem.

The director of the coin, Willy Ott, and his deputy Klaus Fetzner played a central role in this scandal. They were responsible for the illegal pronouncement, which was carried out using real stamps and regular machines. Many of these coins were particularly popular, including the rare 50 pfennig piece from 1950 with the inscription "Bank of German countries" and the two-pfennig coin from 1967. But the lively machinations did not fail to be noticed. In November 1974, the Münzsmler Phillip Kaplan informed the Bundesbank about the suspect coins, which ultimately led to the initiation of an extensive procedure.

The detection of the scandal

With the discovery of the machinations by Kaplan, the story took a dramatic turn. The Bundesbank, which initially tried to clarify the incident internally, finally turned to the public prosecutor. In January 1975, access was carried out, in which around 600 coins were secured. germanycash states that the exact figures of the re-shaped coins, a total of over 1700, can no longer be understood today. The collector's value of these pieces at the time was around 500,000 D-Mark.

In the course of the investigation, some spicy details came to light: superiors of the Federal Ministry of Finance had learned from the illegal activities and received some valuable collectibles. Nevertheless, it was not the false funeral that ultimately burdened the accused, but fraud and theft of coin metal. Despite the great extent of the offense, the district court of Karlsruhe condemned the perpetrators to rather mildly.

a legal precedent

The legal consequences dragged on for five years. Although the perpetrators received short prison terms, the Federal Court of Justice decided that the coins were actually counterfeit money because they were manufactured without an official embossing order. This was a significant legal precedent, because a coin is only considered real if it was shaped in a state coin with a valid order from the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The Karlsruhe coin scandal not only showed the difficulties in dealing with counterfeit money, but also highlighted the trustworthiness of coin production. Interest in collector's coins did the rest to bring the events into the focus of the media. The darkness of the illegal re -impressions and the associated greed reminded people that sometimes the fastest way to enrich is not the safest. After all, the question remains: How many other such scandals may have remained undetected?