Item number: A1488

Year: AD 1932

Material: Aluminium-Bronze

Size: 15.5 x 15.5 mm

Provenance: Stack’s Bowers 2024

This is a 5 Pfennig coin issued in AD 1932 by the Free City of Danzig, made from an aluminium-bronze alloy and designed by local cultural worker Erich Volmar. The obverse side features the denomination and issuing authority inscribed in Gothic-style German script: “5 Pfennig Freie Stadt Danzig” (5 Pfennig, Free City of Danzig). The reverse side depicts a European flatfish, a benthic species native to the Baltic Sea and a notable product of the Free City of Danzig, with the issuing year “1932” inscribed below the emblem.

The Free City of Danzig existed during the interwar period, from AD 1920 to AD 1939, as an autonomous city-state under the protection of the League of Nations. The end of World War I in AD 1918 marked the decline of European empires and the rise of new nation-states in Eastern Europe. In the same year, the Second Polish Republic was re-established from the remnants of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires. However, Poland faced complex ethnic challenges within its borders.

Danzig, situated along the Baltic Sea, had a strong German cultural and historical identity, yet it was designated as Polish territory after World War I. To mediate the territorial disputes between Poland and Germany over Danzig, the League of Nations established it as a Free City, granting Poland access to its port facilities.

From AD 1933 onward, local affairs in Danzig increasingly came under the control of the Nazi Party. In AD 1939, following Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, Danzig was annexed into the German Reich as part of the “Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau.” After Germany’s defeat in AD 1945, the Polish communist government regained control of Danzig, expelled its German population, and renamed the city “Gdańsk.” Today, Gdańsk remains Poland’s largest port.

物件編號: A1488

年代: 公元 1932 年

材質: 鋁青銅

尺寸: 15.5 x 15.5 mm

來源: SBP錢幣拍賣 2024

這是一枚發行於公元1932年，但澤自由市發行的面額5芬尼硬幣，材質為鋁青銅合金，由在地的文化工作者埃里希·沃爾馬爾負責設計。錢幣正面以德文尖角體字型標示面額和發行單位「5 Pfennig Freie Stadt Danzig」(5芬尼 但澤自由市)。背面則是比鄰波羅的海的但澤自由市名產，底棲型的歐洲比目魚圖騰，圖騰的下方為發行年份「1932」。

但澤自由市是存續於戰間期，公元1920至1939年間，受到國際聯盟保障的自由市。公元1918年，第一次世界大戰的結束標示著歐洲帝國的落幕和東歐新興民族國家的興起。公元1918年，波蘭第二共和國在德意志、奧匈和俄羅斯三個帝國的廢墟上復國，然而其境內也存在著複雜的民族問題。比鄰波羅的海的但澤在人口和文化歷史上有強烈的德國認同，然而在第一次世界大戰後卻被劃分為波蘭的領土。國際聯盟為了調停波蘭和德國之間對於但澤的主權爭議，最終將但澤設為受其保護的自由市地位，且波蘭仍享有使用港口的權益。然而自公元1933年起，但澤地方事務逐漸受到納粹黨的控制。公元1939年，隨著納粹德國向波蘭發動攻擊，但澤也成為前者轄下的「但澤-西普魯士帝國大區」。公元1945年，納粹德國戰敗後，重新控制但澤的波蘭共產政權驅離當地的德裔人口，並且將但澤更名為「格但斯克」，迄今格但斯克仍為波蘭第一大港。