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German Coin Found In King Tiger Tank



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.

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  • Jun 10, 2024
  • 3 min read


Lotte Kopecky took back-to-back wins at the 2024 Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Women, powering to the second stage victory in Wrexham after a breakaway with British rider Anna Henderson.


The world champion from SD Worx-ProTime stormed up the iconic Horseshoe Pass at a blistering pace, breaking away from the peloton with Henderson (Great Britain Cycling Team) hot on her wheel, before beating the Brit in a sprint finish after tackling 140.2km and 1,570m of climbing.


It was a steady start out of Wrexham’s town centre, with the peloton staying together and embracing the crowds, before Franziska Koch (Team dsm-Firmenich Postnl) made the first big move of the day around 30km in.


Reaching the first Queen of the Mountains (QOM) of the day at 88km in, Koch remained unchallenged, and had increased her lead to three minutes and 15 seconds. With a distance of 1.4km and average elevation of 3%, Koch took Eyton Hill in her stride to take maximum QOM points, while a strong sprint behind saw Heidi Franz (Lifeplus-Wahoo) cross the line second and the current jersey holder, Lizzie Deigan (Great Britain Cycling Team) take third.


The peloton slowly started to reel Koch back in, reducing the gap to a minute as the German rider also took the intermediate sprint solo at the 93km mark. A battle for second and third saw Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-Firmenich Postnl) and Kopecky go shoulder to shoulder, with the Dutch rider just edging out ahead of the race leader. Koch was shortly swallowed back up by the peloton, but secured the Combativity award of the day for her efforts.


The race was set alight as the riders battled up the second Queen of the Mountains on Horseshoe Pass, with Kopecky taking the 4.2km climb and 6.4% gradient in her stride. The Belgium rider showed her world champion class, accelerating effortlessly from the front of the peloton to form a gap, with Henderson straight on her wheel. Deignan attacked to take third on the classification and retain her Queen of the Mountains jersey.


Henderson and Kopecky continued to build a considerable lead on the peloton, with the gap growing to 38 seconds coming into the final 10km of the race.


Heading into Wrexham, Henderson tried to mount a last gasp attack on the world champion, but was no match for Kopecky, who stormed to her second win of this year’s Tour of Britain Women and crossed the line with her arms outstretched. The chasing pack crossed the line 20 seconds later with sprint queen Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) powering to third.


Kopecky’s win sees the Belgium rider maintain the leader’s jersey and sprinters jersey, while Henderson now sits in the Best of British jersey. Deignan remains top of the Queen of the Mountains category, while Elise Jansen’s 10th place sees her maintain the Young Rider jersey. With two riders on the podium today, SD-Worx ProTime maintain the team classification.


Speaking on her second stage win, Kopecky said:

“It couldn’t have gone better, I am really happy with today’s race. It was nice to get Anna with me in the break today, and I wasn’t prepared to try something after the longer climb. I knew what the finish would look like, and I didn’t panic, and it’s been another really good day for our team.”

Henderson said:

“I am really happy, bittersweet I think. I was super happy to go with Lotte and be on par with her physically up the climb. But being that close to the win, I am disappointed but happy with my second race back after breaking my collarbone.”

"On the team’s potential to win an upcoming stage, Henderson said: “I think we can, we have a lot of strength in the team and it is a big ambition for us as a team to win a stage.”


Deignan added:

“We have a really strong group of women now, it is exciting. I think it is the first time we can say that we have four strong road riders that could potentially medal in Paris."

“It is always nice to take a trip to the podium, being in the Queen of the Mountain jersey, and win some flowers. My mum is here so extra motivation there!”


Tomorrow’s third stage will start and finish in front of the iconic Golden Gates of Warrington Town Hall, with the peloton immediately heading south, crossing the River Mersey and Great Manchester Canal. Riders will then pass the stunning Walton Hall and Gardens before breezing through the picturesque Cheshire West and Chester villages of Higher Whitley, Great Budworth and Wincham.


Find the full preview to the event here.


Photo credit SWpix.com.

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