5 Mark - Albert

Albert was a professional soldier before he was a king. In 1866 he led Saxony's forces against Prussia and held the left of the Austrian position at Königgrätz — the battle that decided which German power would build the coming empire. Saxony lost. Four years later, against France, he commanded the Fourth Army, the Army of the Meuse, with Prussian Guard corps under him. He became king on his father's death in 1873 and stayed a soldier: the Albertstadt garrison quarter he built in Dresden was the largest in Germany.

The Empire founded in 1871 needed one currency. The Coinage Act of 9 July 1873 gave it one — the mark — and left the states a single vanity: their own ruler's portrait on the 2 and 5 mark silver pieces. Everything else was fixed. So the 5 Mark that appeared with Albert's head in 1875 records the deal Saxony made. Local face, imperial back, imperial weight, imperial edge motto.

The coins carry Saxony's mint mark E, but where the E sat changed partway through. Dresden struck the 1875 and 1876 coins, then stopped work in February 1887; a new state mint opened the following month at Muldenhütten, a lead-smelting site near Freiberg in the Ore Mountains. It kept the letter and kept striking Saxon coins until 1953.

Albert died on 19 June 1902, and the last coin of the series was made for that — a 5 Mark carrying his birth and death dates in place of the usual royal legend.

The obverse — the heads side — is spare and military: Albert's bare head facing right, the mint letter E, and the legend ALBERT KOENIG VON SACHSEN. Numista credits the dies to Max Barduleck (1846–1923), Royal Saxon coin engraver from 1871 and, by his own mint's account, the hand behind most Saxon royal coinage across some forty-six years. He moved from Dresden to Muldenhütten when the mint did.

The reverse — the tails side — is not Saxony's at all. It is the crowned imperial eagle — Prussia's arms on its breast — with DEUTSCHES REICH, the year, and FÜNF MARK, in principle identical to every other state's 5 Mark. The edge reads GOTT MIT UNS ("God with us"), separated by iron crosses. The standard never varied: 900 fine silver, 27.777 g, 38 mm — about the size of a US silver dollar.

The thing to know is that "5 Mark Albert" is one design idea spread over three catalog types, and the numbers matter more than the name:

• Jaeger 122 / KM# 1237 (1875, 1876, 1889) — the "small eagle" reverse, an eagle with a large shield on its breast. Struck at Dresden in 1875–76 and at Muldenhütten in 1889.
• Jaeger 125 / KM# 1246 (1891–1902) — the "big eagle" reverse, an eagle with a smaller shield. Muldenhütten only.
• Jaeger 128 / KM# 1256 (1902) — the memorial issue, with *28.IV.1828 and ✠19.VI.1902 flanking the portrait.

The gap between them is real history, not an accident of listing. The old eagle ended in 1889, the redesigned one arrived in 1891, and 1890 is simply empty.

The 1889. Reported mintage is around 36,000 pieces — an order of magnitude below 1875 and 1876, and well below the annual runs of the 1890s. It is the date that turns a common type into a hunt. A proof strike (a presentation piece from polished dies) is also recorded for 1889 and is rarer still.

The memorial coin. The 1902 J 128 puts a dead man's dates on circulating silver. A reported 100,000 were struck, so it is obtainable, and it is the natural end-piece for an Albert set. Saxony did the same for King George in 1904, which makes the two a neat pair.

The size. At 38 mm and 27.777 g of 900 silver, this is one of the big, satisfying coins of the imperial series, and circulated 1891–1902 dates are among the cheaper ways into large German silver. Which means condition is everything: these coins worked for a living, and unworn survivors of the scarce dates are a different market from the worn ones. We do not publish values — check current auction records, and judge condition from a certified, encapsulated example rather than a photograph.

One cataloguing note: a single colcur series row covers the whole Albert 5 Mark story, so its range reads 1875–1902 — but nothing was struck in his name from 1877 to 1888, or in 1890.