Papiermark

The Papiermark (paˈpiːɐ̯ˌmaʁk; 'paper mark', officially just Mark, sign: M︁) was 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 Papiermark was the currency issued during the hyperinflation in Germany of 1922 and 1923. 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 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 (1012)-M︁ to RM1. On 30 August 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 it was replaced by the Danzig Gulden in late 1923. Several coins and emergency issues in Papiermark were issued by the free city. During the war, cheaper metals were introduced for coins, including aluminium, zinc and iron, although silver M︁ pieces continued in production until 1919. Aluminium 1₰ were produced until 1918 and the 2₰ until 1916. Whilst iron 5₰, both iron and zinc 10₰ and aluminium 50₰ coins were issued until 1922. Aluminium 3M︁ were issued in 1922 and 1923, and aluminium 200M︁ and 500M︁ 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 Westphalia and featured the highest face value denominations on a coin ever, eventually reaching 1,000,000,000,000M︁.