Time for another one of my German silver marks !
And this time we got a cute little castle 🏰
So what's the deal with this castle thingie?
Well, as you can see this 10 mark coin reads
800 JAHRE HAFEN UND HAMBURG
Which translates to
800 YEARS OF PORT AND HAMBURG
Minted in 1989, this is a commerorative piece for... the 800 years Port of Hamburg, duh 😅
Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" this is the country's largest seaport by volume, located on the river Elbe in Hamburg, 110 kilometres from its mouth on the North Sea.
As for the castle thingie, it's based one the castle that appears on the civil flag of Hamburg
The civil flag shows a white castle with three towers on red background, which is used as a civil flag as a state flag for most purposes. The oldest seal with the castle is thought to date from 1241. The first flag featuring the current form was in the mid-16th century, although this was most probably a red field, a white escutcheon and red castle. After about 1623, the escutcheon began to be omitted, leaving a red castle on white or a white castle on red. It was only in 1751 that the white castle on red was decreed as the flag of Hamburg. source
(public domain, via wiki)
After doing some research here and there, I don't think the castle is supposed to be a specific castle, but more like a symbolism
All coat of arms show a castle with three towers. The middle tower shows a cross on top. It is believed that the so-called Marian stars on top of the two side-towers and the cross recalls the fact that Hamburg used to be an archbishopric.The towers and the walls with their pinnacles and the closed gate symbolized the determination of the town to defend itself source
Ok, enough with this side. Let's turn the coin around
Nothing out the ordinary here, as always a unique imperial eagle design (by Klaus Luckey), denomination and minting date.
As for the edge...
..it's engraved with the words "HAMBURG TOR ZUR WELT" for "Hamburg - the gate to the world", keeping the whole Hamburg thme.
Much like the rest 10 mark coins we have seen, this one weights 15.5 g and it's made of 0.625 silver.
All in all, a beautiful cute little coin from Germany :)
Stay tuned, there are a LOT more to see 😅
