(tb) The Federal Ministry of Finance The issue of commemorative coins minted in silver was discontinued at the end of October. The "Christmas" issue, scheduled for release on November 20th, and the "125 Years of the Wuppertal Suspension Railway" issue, planned for January 22nd, 2026, will not be released, or not in the planned form.
The withdrawal was due to budgetary reasons. The federal government is not permitted to issue commemorative coins whose material value exceeds their face value. This is the case with the 20 and 25 euro coins, as they contain silver with a market value of approximately 23 and 30 euros, respectively. The price of silver had exploded in the wake of the recent wave of speculation in the precious metals markets, similar to the price of gold.
The ministry is currently examining whether to issue the coins later at a higher face value or reduce the silver content in the alloy. Of course, it could also wait and see if the speculative bubble simply bursts soon. However, this would be risky for the national and global economy – the financial markets have already caused many a completely pointless crisis. And we certainly have more than enough crises in the world at the moment…
