Germany
Otto von Bismarck sowed the seeds of unifying Germany's countless states in the 1870,s. But although he introduced a central bank with a common currency many former small states still produced their own coinage. The Mayer Mint started producing 20, 10 and 5 Mark coins for national use in 1871. No gold coins have been minted in Germany since 1915, but in 2001 the German mint produced the Deutsche Mark Commemorative gold coin before the country joined the Euro.
There are five mints in Germany now: Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, each having their own individual Mint-mark. Addresses of these mints are hard to find so all communication has to go through the head organisation in Bad Homburg.