1/100 Pfennig Pfennig Pfennig Pfennig ₰ | Plural Mark Symbol ℳ | |
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Banknotes 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 Mark
1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 thousand Mark
1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 million Mark
1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 billion Mark
1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 trillion Mark | ||
The name Papiermark (English: paper mark, officially just Mark, sign: ℳ) is applied to the German currency from 4 August 1914 when the link between the Goldmark and gold was abandoned, due to the outbreak of World War I. In particular, the name is used for the banknotes issued during the hyperinflation in Germany of 1922 and especially 1923.
Contents
History
From 1914, the value of the Mark fell. The rate of inflation rose following the end of World War I and reached its highest point in October 1923. The currency was stabilized in November 1923 after the announcement of the creation of the Rentenmark, although the Rentenmark did not come into circulation until 1924. When it did, it replaced the Papiermark at the rate of 1 trillion Papiermark = 1 Rentenmark. Later in 1924, the Rentenmark was replaced by the Reichsmark.
In addition to the issues of the government, emergency issues of both tokens and paper money, known as Kriegsgeld (war money) and Notgeld (emergency money), were produced by local authorities.
The Papiermark was also used in the Free City of Danzig until replaced by the Danzig Gulden in late 1923. Several coins and emergency issues in papiermark were issued by the free city.
Coins
During the war, cheaper metals were introduced for coins, including aluminium, zinc and iron, although silver ½ Mark pieces continued in production until 1919. Aluminium 1 Pfennig were produced until 1918 and the 2 Pfennig until 1916. Whilst iron 5 Pfennig, both iron and zinc 10 Pfennig and aluminium 50 Pfennig coins were issued until 1922. Aluminium 3 Mark were issued in 1922 and 1923, and aluminium 200 and 500 Mark were issued in 1923. The quality of many of these coins varied from decent to poor.
During this period, many provinces and cities also had their own corresponding coin and note issues, referred to as Notgeld currency. This came about often due to a shortage of exchangeable tender in one region or another during the war and hyperinflation periods. Some of the most memorable of these to be issued during this period came from Westfalen and featured the highest face value denominations on a coin ever, eventually reaching 50,000,000 Mark.
German Papiermark of Danzig
The Danziger Privat Actien-Bank (opened 1856) was the first bank established in Danzig. They issued two series of notes denominated in thalers (1857 and 1862–73) prior to issuing the mark (1875, 1882, 1887). These mark issues are extremely rare. The Ostbank fur Handel and Gewerbe opened 16 March 1857, and by 1911 two additional banks (the Imperial Bank of Germany and the Norddeutsche Credit-Anstalt) were in operation.
Issuance of the Danzig papiermark
The German papiermark was issued by Danzig from 1914 to 1923. Five series were issued during World War I by the City Council (1914, 1916, 1918 first and second issue, and 1919). Denominations ranged from 10 pfennig to 20 mark. The Free City of Danzig municipal senate issued an additional four post-World War I series of notes (1922, 1923 First issue, 1923 Provisional issue, and 1923 Inflation issue). The 1922 issue (31 October 1922) was denominated in 100, 500, and 1000 mark notes. The denominations for the 1923 issue were 1000 (15 March 1923), and 10000 and 50000 mark notes (20 March 1923). The 1923 provisional issue reused earlier notes with a large red stamp indicating the new (and higher) denominations of 1 million (8 August 1923) and 5 million (15 October 1923) mark. The last series of Danzig mark was the 1923 inflation issue of 1 million (8 August 1923), 10 million (31 August 1923), 100 million (22 September 1923), 500 million (26 September 1923), and 5 billion mark notes (11 October 1923). The Danzig mark was replaced by the Danzig gulden, first issued by the Danzig Central Finance Department on 22 October 1923.
Note on numeration
In German, Milliarde is 1,000,000,000, or one thousand million, while Billion is 1,000,000,000,000, or one million million.