Special Coin and Stamp Celebrate 125 Years of the Automobile

This year, German automotive giant Daimler is making every effort to mark the 125th birthday of the motor car, and has just been joined in the celebration by the Federal Finance Ministry who is issuing a special postage stamp and a special coin for the occasion.

The stamp shows the first motor car in the world, with a drawing of the patent of 29th January 1886 as a background. The stamp has a denomination of 55 cents and will be available at all Post Offices and agencies from May 5, 2011 on.

From June 9, 2011 on a special commemorative coin “125 years of the automobile” with a denomination of 10 euros, will be issued, available in banks and savings banks. With a dynamic, modern graphic design based on the circular shape on the steering wheel, both obverse and anverse deal with the theme of individual mobility.

Official presentation of both commemorative editions by the Federal Finance Ministry is to take place in Berlin on June 7, 2011.

“125 years ago the Kaiserliche Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin granted Benz & Co. in Mannheim the patent No. 37,435 for a “vehicle with a gas engine drive system”. This patent is see as the birth certificate of the automobile. “Patentirt im Deutschen Reiche vom 29. Januar 1886 an” – “patented in the German Empire from 29. January 1886 on”: thus reads the document; and that very day the automobile’s triumphal march began that was to change the world to an unimaginable extent,” the company explains in a statement for the press.