GERMAN IMPERIAL & WEIMER BANKNOTES

[Mervyn Mitton]

I have cleared that it is OK to put banknotes under this Forum - hopefully you will find them of interest.

One of the problems with a shop is that items come-in and if you don't have an immediate need, then they get put away and forgotten. This is exactly what happened with this bundle of notes - they must have been at the back of a cupboard for over twelve years. Now, I must admit to an ulterior motive by posting them here - I don't have any knowledge on old notes and intend to put them on our GMIC sale section. Perhaps, if anyone knows, you can give a fair price I could ask ?

Interestingly, the oldest I found was 1908 - there are also ones for 1910, 1914, 1915, 1918 and many from the Republic - 1920,1921, 1922 and 1923. This was when the highest inflation ever recorded happened and there is one small note for 2,000,000,000. Some are only printed on one side and have shopping lists on the reverse !

There are quite a few posts as I have tried to show both sides - most have dates ( remember Hugh's advice - Ctrl and + to enlarge - Ctrl and - to reduce). The last picture shows the size of the bundle - well over 50 - many are small ones hidden inside. Mervyn

[Mervyn Mitton]

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Single note for French Occupied Territories

[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

[paul wood]

Mervin,

Most interesting. The notes from 1908 were still circulating in 1920. Then Germany got stung with reparations and the value of the mark went into freefall (a bit like Zimbabwe today). There were cases of people ordering a meal at say 5 million marks, by the time they had eaten it it was 7 million marks By 1924 it got to the point where 5,000,000,000,000 marks was the equivalent of 1 US dollar (5 billion (English billions not devalued American ones which are really milliards). Notes were produced up to the value of 50 billion marks by the end. The hyperinflation ruined many people and was one of the many reasons that Hitler finally triumphed. The notes themselves are extremely common and almost worth less than the paper they are printed on but they are a fascinating snapshot of post war Germany.

All the best,

Paul

[Mervyn Mitton]

I don't want to 'clog-up' the threads, however,I thought some of you may be interested in their fate . They sold - to a collector - for £75 ($110). So, as Paul said - not worth a fortune.