Crown with ribbon above date Script: Latin Lettering: ♦1916♦ -DOA- T

1916 German East Africa 20 Heller

A German coin from colonial-era Africa

German East Africa

The German East Africa Company (German: Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft, abbreviated DOAG) was a chartered colonial organization which brought about the establishment of German East Africa, a territory which eventually comprised the areas of modern Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda. The Company originated in 1884 as the Gesellschaft für deutsche Kolonisation (Society for German Colonisation) with the aim of trading in Africa.

German East Africa extended over present-day Tanzania (with the exception of Zanzibar), Burundi, Rwanda and Mozambique.

During the second half of the 19th century, the Indian rupee was the dominant currency used along the East African coast. The German East Africa Company acquired rights to mint coinage in 1890 and issued rupies which were equivalent to the Indian and Zanzibar rupee.

Until 1904, the rupie was subdivided into 64 Pesa (equivalent to the Indian pice or paisa). The currency was decimalized on 28 February 1904, with 1 Rupie = 100 Heller, which was then adapted into the Swahili language as the word ‘hela’ which is still in use today meaning ‘money’. At the same time, a fixed exchange rate of 15 Rupien = 20 German Mark was established.

Obverse

The obverse features a crown with ribbon, above the date. The issuer, Deutsche Ost Afrika, is represented by the initials, D.O.A. and I believe the T is for “Tabora”, the area they were issued in. Tabora is in what is now Tanzania.

Reverse

Denomination within wreath Script: Latin Lettering: 20 HELLER

The reverse features the denomination within a wreath. Interestingly for collectors, there are a number of varieties of the coin. These were issued in 1916, during WWI, and at the time German forces captured the area, including Tabora. These coins are considered emergency coinage. They were issued in both copper and brass with the same design.

Numista and other sites list two different obverse and three reverse variations. The date on mine is narrower than DOA and it is the small crown, obverse B. Mine has the filled triangle looking feet to the L’s in HELLER, making it reverse B. The other two variations have a flat “foot” on the L, with a “tail” which then curls back to the vertical line. One has equal sized L’s, the other has one smaller “tail”. One of the images used in that Numista example has a very large cud at the top of the reverse (I mentioned cuds in my 2005 New Zealand Dollar post). So errors such as that are also worth keeping an eye out for.

Posted

27 December 2023

Coin

Tags:

East Africa, Emergency Money, Germany, Tanzania

Comments

2 responses to “1916 German East Africa 20 Heller”

Evance

6 June 2025

What is this currency called and how many Tanzanian shillings is its current value?

Reply
1. Q
  
  8 June 2025
  
  Great Question! So the coin was part of the German East Africa Rupie. It was decimalised, so it was worth 1/20th of a Rupie. At the Treaty of Versailles, following WWI, the area was given to the British, as the “Tanganyika Territory“. They used the East African Rupee, but I cannot readily find whether the two currencies were equivalent. That was replaced by the East African Florin at par, then by the East African Shilling where it was devalued by half. So assuming our 20 Heller coin was originally worth 20 East African cents, it then became worth 10 (new) East African cents. At independence, the East African Shilling was replaced by the Tanzanian Shilling at par with 1 Shillingi worth 100 Senti. Tanzania only issue the 10 Senti coin until 1984, and only issued anything less than a shillingi until 1990, the last coin issued being the 50 Senti. Today, 1 Euro cent is worth 30.35 Shilling, and not much better against the US dollar (26.56 Shillingi to one US cent). So in trade, that 20 Heller coin wouldn’t be worth much by face value, but it is worth much more in historical value! I haven’t written up a coin from modern Tanzania yet – but I think I’ve just done a good bit of the research on the currnecy side at least!
  
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