Over the past two or three years my cohort and I have been watching an ever increasing influx of questionable Goetz struck medals enter the market. These are not the restrikes that have been made apparent in such auctions as Hirsch Auktion 272, Nachprägungen, pp.242, but rather pieces, usually 36mm silver, being sold as authentic Goetz struck examples while certain diagnostics suggest otherwise.
One of the easiest diagnostics is the absence of any mint edge-stamp created during the minting process by way of a collar and higher than usual striking pressures. In the case of the Munich Mint, struck pieces are edge-stamped with BAYER HAUPTMÜNZAMT, BAYER HAUPTMÜNZAMT FEINSILBER, etc., etc.. The material we are seeing lacks the mint's edge-stamp while the edges have been lathed to the correct diameter. We believe this indicates restriking in a private mint and likely at a later date post 1950, Karl's year of death.
Yes, Karl created some early medals and all original coin pattern sets by way of private mints, this is documented, but where are all of these later K-# examples being minted if not by the Bavarian mint? And who was creating them? Markus Wesche has been studying the minting numbers for Goetz medals from Bavarian Mint records. These are the only examples sanctioned by Karl while he was alive. I certainly hope his study comes to fruition in the near future.
So my question to the rest of you, Will every single coin and/or medal produced by the Bavarian Mint, or any mint for that matter, carry a mint edge-stamped identifier?