Nazi-era coin in bag of foreign coins - would that be odd to you?

[EllieQ]

One of the things I cleared out from my late mum’s house was an old money box containing some foreign coins. I decided to have a look through them before donating them, and discovered that among the usual francs/ pesetas etc were a few coins from the 1940s, including a 1942 Reichspfennig with a swastika on one side.

I’ve found this quite unsettling and I’m not sure whether to include it when I donate them to a local charity shop that takes old coins. On one hand, there’s a market for these coins (there’s a few for sale on eBay) and any money raised would benefit the charity. But on the other hand, it feels weird and wrong to me. Am I over-thinking it (I do this a lot) or would other people find it strange too?

How is being married to a German and living in Germany at all relevant?

Im surprised at some of these responses, as if the coin is some sort of demon item

It will have been common currency at some point, used by millions of people, probably used long after the nazis were defeated, some might have been taken back to England

She might have known it was in the collection and thats fine

She might not have know it was in the collection and thats also fine

It wont be particularly unsual or shocking

Offer it to a local secondary school?

The OP is not wrong to question how best to dispose of it and shows that unlike some posters, she has a strong moral compass

Then she should just chuck it in the river and pat herself on the back that she'll be basking in your high-minded admiration.

You're overthinking it.
It was German coin of the realm in an awful era. That's all there is to say about it.

I winder what Oscar Wilde would say about not one, but two concurrent threads around Nazi memorabilia ?

All very curious.

My moral compass is evidently low also as I think the OP is having a massive over reaction here. It's a coin that like many people have said would have been part of Germany's currency for many, many years and is innocently sat in a collection of coins. It's not sinister in any way, shape or form.

I posted this thread in July 2023, so I’m not sure why it’s been resurrected now! Haven’t seen the other thread.

Anyway, this thread was useful in pointing out to me that it wouldn’t have been uncommon for people to have the odd German coin brought back ‘from the war’ and that I was being a bit ridiculous and over-thinking it, so I was grateful for all the comments.