A £1m fundraising effort by The Tank Museum to restore the oldest surviving King Tiger in existence was boosted when a WWII German coin was discovered inside it.

Apprentice Vehicle Technician James Trevett was helping strip-down the historic and unique German machine when he discovered the 5 Reichspfennig coin. It is likely that a German engineer working on the tank in 1943 dropped it and it remained there until now.

Worth the equivalent of a UK penny, the coin was cast in 1941 from Zinc due to wartime shortages and it displays the Nazi eagle and swastika on one side with the denomination with oak leaves on the reverse.

It was one of a number of items discovered in the tank – King Tiger V2 – during the process to take it apart.

The tank was the second of 492 King Tigers built, hence its name V2, the V short for ‘Versuchs’, meaning ‘experimental’ or ‘trial’.

The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, has had the tank since the post-war years and it was decided to restore it to working condition, a project set to cost £1m, with around half the amount raised. It is the only surviving King Tiger to have been fitted with the pre-production turret, which was designed by Porsche.

V2 was built in December 1943 and spent its entire service life at the Henschel testing facility in Germany.

When this was overrun by Allied forces, V2 was found fully stowed and ready to fight – although it is not believed that it ever fired a shot in anger.

The Museum’s Director of Marketing and Engagement, Nik Wyness, said:

“While the coin discovered is worth only a few pounds, it is a wonderful, evocative item that is itself part of the history of this vehicle and the story it tells."

“It was possibly dropped by an engineer or by a German testing the tank – we will never know for sure.

“We already have the world’s only working Tiger I – called 131 – and to also have an operational King Tiger to join it would be truly unique."

“Donors to the fund have been extremely generous and it has allowed us to begin the project and strip down the tank. We are removing all the parts and inspecting them to see what needs replacing, fixing or reverse engineering. And it was during this process that the coin was found underneath the left-hand fuel tank, which is below the turret."

“We also uncovered a brick, broken hoses, tools and a piece of paper that might contain a wiring diagram. The project is being led by our Workshop Team, supported by a range of carefully selected partners from across Europe."

“We’ll use the project as a springboard for further research, to develop new skills and train the next generation of heritage engineers – using external experts to guide us where necessary.”

Design work on King Tiger – or Tiger II aka ‘Konigstiger’ – began in 1942 and they were first used during the Normandy campaign in 1944 and were the most powerful tanks on the battlefield.

The Musée des Blindés in France also have an operational King Tiger tank, and it visited the Museum’s TANKFEST 2025 to run alongside The Tank Museum’s Tiger I.

To donate to the restoration project visit tankmuseum.org/ktv2. To watch the restoration journey, visit The Tank Museum Workshop YouTube channel here.