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
Designs
Motif
Geometric design
Measurements
Object
Horizontal
137.00mm
Vertical
71.00mm
Materials
Object
Paper