Wolfgang Kemereit, who works at the Bundesbank's branch in Oldenburg has finished counting, by hand, approximately 1.2 million coins that a family from the town of Bremervörde brought to the bank. The banker has counted coins every day for the last six months.
"I had every piece in my hand," he told NDR 1, a TV channel, commenting on the 8,000 euros in one- and two- penny denominations of Deutschmarks he had counted. "I like to do this kind of thing, so it wasn't a problem."
Wolfgang Kemereit, Mitarbeiter des Monats von Juli bis Dezember https://t.co/AMaR6TcRfo
— Jan Lindenau (@jannosen) 15 декабря 2017 г.
The deceased proverbial penny-pincher had worked as a truck driver. He spent some 30 years collecting the coins during his trips. After his death earlier in May, his family decided to cash the money in. To get the freezer bags with the coins to the bank, they had to use vans.
READ MORE: Belated Reward for Swede Who Dug Up Massive Viking Silver Stash
The Deutschmark was Germany’s official currency until the country adopted the euro in 2002. However, D-Marks and pre-2002 coins can be exchanged indefinitely without fees. Still, according to Deutsche Welle, the Bundesbank estimates that there are 12.65 billion D-Marks still in the country.
