{"product_id":"germany-p-83-100000-marks-1922-or-1923-vf-jh216","title":"Germany P-83 100000 Marks 1923 VF (Very Fine)—Hyperinflation—Reichsbank","description":"\u003ch3\u003eFront\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eColors: predominantly green and brown ink on cream paper with intricate guilloche patterns; large \"100000\" denominations in the corners\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePortrait of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Georg_Gisze\"\u003eGeorg Gisze\u003c\/a\u003e — a 16th-century Hanseatic merchant — copied from the famous 1532 portrait by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger\"\u003eHans Holbein the Younger\u003c\/a\u003e (today in the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gem%C3%A4ldegalerie,_Berlin\"\u003eGemäldegalerie, Berlin\u003c\/a\u003e). The original Holbein painting was already in the Berlin state collection when this note was designed\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLettering: Reichsbanknote \/ Hunderttausend Mark \/ Zahlt die Reichsbankhauptkasse in Berlin gegen diese Banknote dem Einlieferer \/ Berlin, den 1. Februar 1923 \/ Reichsbankdirektorium\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eBack\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eColors: matching green\/brown palette with the central denomination dominating\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLarge \"100000\" numerals bordered by ornate intaglio designs and engraved guilloche borders\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLettering: Reichsbanknote \/ 100000 \/ HUNDERTTAUSEND MARK\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOther Characteristics\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVarieties: multiple signature and watermark varieties; specific sub-variety reference: JH216\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCatalog numbers: P# 83; \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Numista\"\u003eNumista\u003c\/a\u003e N#205189 | Numista: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.numista.com\/205189\"\u003ehttps:\/\/en.numista.com\/205189\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComposition: Paper\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSize: 190 × 114 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShape: Rectangular\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEdge: Cut\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTechnique: Lithography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOrientation: Horizontal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIssuing entity: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reichsbank\"\u003eReichsbank\u003c\/a\u003e — the central bank of the German Reich (1876–1948)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMint: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reichsdruckerei\"\u003eReichsdruckerei\u003c\/a\u003e (German Imperial Printing Office, Berlin)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYears issued: 1923 (dated February 1, 1923; demonetized 5 June 1925)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCurrency: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Papiermark\"\u003ePapiermark\u003c\/a\u003e (1873–1923)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOfficial language: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language\"\u003eGerman\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout Germany (Weimar Republic)\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOrigin of name: From the Old High German \u003cem\u003ediutisc\u003c\/em\u003e (\"of the people\"), referring to the Germanic-speaking tribes; the country became a single political entity in 1871 after Prussia's victory in the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franco-Prussian_War\"\u003eFranco-Prussian War\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCapital (1923): \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Berlin\"\u003eBerlin\u003c\/a\u003e (city pop. ~4 million in 1923; ~3.85 million today)\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eOrigin of name: Likely from a Polabian Slavic root \u003cem\u003eberl-\u003c\/em\u003e\/\u003cem\u003ebirl-\u003c\/em\u003e meaning \"swamp\"; settled by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Polabian_Slavs\"\u003ePolabian Slavs\u003c\/a\u003e before German colonization in the 13th century\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePopulation (1923): ~62 million; ~84 million today (UN 2024) — comparable to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Belgium\"\u003eBelgium\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eArea: 357,022 km² (137,847 mi²) today — comparable to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Montana\"\u003eMontana\u003c\/a\u003e or \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnam\"\u003eVietnam\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGDP per capita (\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Purchasing_power_parity\"\u003ePPP\u003c\/a\u003e): ~$67,000 today (IMF 2024); in 1923, real wages collapsed to ~25% of pre-war levels at the inflation peak\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMain exports (1923): coal, steel, chemicals, machinery — though crippled by reparations and the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr\"\u003eRuhr occupation\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBorders (1923): \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Belgium\"\u003eBelgium\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Netherlands\"\u003eNetherlands\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Denmark\"\u003eDenmark\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Poland\"\u003ePoland\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Czechoslovakia\"\u003eCzechoslovakia\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Austria\"\u003eAustria\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Switzerland\"\u003eSwitzerland\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOfficial\/spoken language: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language\"\u003eGerman\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEthnicities: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Germans\"\u003eGermans\u003c\/a\u003e (majority); \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Poles\"\u003ePoles\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany\"\u003eJews\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sorbs\"\u003eSorbs\u003c\/a\u003e, and other minorities\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMemberships (1923): bound by the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Treaty_of_Versailles\"\u003eTreaty of Versailles\u003c\/a\u003e (1919); joined the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/League_of_Nations\"\u003eLeague of Nations\u003c\/a\u003e in 1926, three years after this note was issued\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSovereignty: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire\"\u003eGerman Empire\u003c\/a\u003e (1871–1918); \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Weimar_Republic\"\u003eWeimar Republic\u003c\/a\u003e (1918–1933) — issued this note; \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nazi_Germany\"\u003eNazi Germany\u003c\/a\u003e (1933–1945); \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Allied-occupied_Germany\"\u003eAllied occupation\u003c\/a\u003e (1945–1949); split (1949–1990); reunified 1990\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWeimar Hyperinflation Unfiltered\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBy February 1923 — when this 100,000-mark note was issued — 1 USD bought ~28,000 marks. By November 1923, 1 USD bought ~4.2 trillion marks\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis 100,000 mark note was worth roughly $3.50 USD when issued, and effectively zero a few months later\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Reichsbank was running 132 printing presses across 30 paper mills 24 hours a day at the inflation peak\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorkers were paid twice daily and shopped immediately to outrun the value collapse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crisis ended in November 1923 with the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rentenmark\"\u003eRentenmark\u003c\/a\u003e — one new Rentenmark replaced one trillion (10¹²) old Papiermark\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAllowed an obscure 16th-century merchant from a famous painting to grace what was, briefly, one of the highest-denomination notes in circulation history\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Merchant on the Money\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe portrait on this note is one of the most studied images in Northern Renaissance art: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Georg_Gisze\"\u003eGeorg Gisze\u003c\/a\u003e, a German Hanseatic merchant working in \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Steelyard\"\u003eLondon's Steelyard\u003c\/a\u003e, painted in 1532 by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger\"\u003eHans Holbein the Younger\u003c\/a\u003e. The original oil-on-oak panel — alive with carnations, an Anatolian carpet, a brass timepiece, an unsealed letter, and a delicate glass vase — is a masterpiece of detail and is held by the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gem%C3%A4ldegalerie,_Berlin\"\u003eGemäldegalerie\u003c\/a\u003e in Berlin. The Reichsbank's choice to put this image on a hyperinflation note in 1923 is striking: a 391-year-old portrait of a merchant of moderate means, on paper money that was already losing value as it left the press.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHolbein and the Hanseatic Memory\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy a Hanseatic merchant from the 1500s on a 1923 Reichsbanknote? In 1923 Germany was in fiscal free-fall, but the Reichsbank's design committee was reaching back through history for symbols of solid German commerce. The \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hanseatic_League\"\u003eHanseatic League\u003c\/a\u003e, dominant from the 13th to 17th centuries, was the proto-multinational trading network that linked Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, and a dozen other German ports to London, Bergen, Novgorod, and beyond. Putting Gisze on a banknote was a quiet act of nostalgia — invoking an era when German merchants were the financial system, on a piece of paper that was the system's collapse made tangible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World Money Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52110597128503,"sku":"DE83VF","price":2.05,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0969\/7165\/3431\/files\/DE83o_copy.jpg?v=1778591114","url":"https:\/\/worldmoneystore.com\/products\/germany-p-83-100000-marks-1922-or-1923-vf-jh216","provider":"World Money Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}