National Currency Collection

Germany, Reichsbank, 10,000,000,000,000 marks : 1924

Story

A few trillion marks just doesn’t buy what it used to.

With the Allied Nations demanding reparation payments of billions in gold after the First World War, Germany very quickly slid into inflation. Strikes and strife in the industrial regions shut down the economy which then went into hyperinflationary mode as more money was printed to cover costs. Within a year a loaf of bread that was previously worth perhaps 150 marks now cost more like 200 billion marks. Prices rose so quickly that a worker’s wages couldn’t be spent before they were devalued. Money was worth only the paper it was printed on.

Item Details

Categorization

Collection
Note
Class
Government
Name
National
Form
Issued

Locations

Country
Germany

Denominations

10,000,000,000,000 marks

Dates

Dated
February 1, 1924

Authorities

Issuing authority
Reichsbank

Designs

Motif
Geometric design

Measurements

Object

Horizontal
137.00mm
Vertical
71.00mm

Materials

Object
Paper