{"product_id":"germany-p-97-20000000-marks-20-million-marks-1923-very-fine-plus-long-blank-back","title":"Germany P-97b 20000000 marks 20 million marks 1923 Very Fine Plus—Long—Blank Back","description":"\u003ch3\u003eBanknote Characteristics\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVarieties:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cem\u003eP-97a — 7-digit serial number, Government issue, prefix W–Z ⬅️ not this note\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eP-97b — 6 or 8-digit serial number, Private issue (prefixes AB AE AF AG D H J K N P R T V) ⬅️ this note. You will receive prefix H, J, N, or P.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eColor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Brown and tan on white paper\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFront:\u003c\/strong\u003e Text-only design — \"Reichsbanknote \/ Zwanzig Millionen Mark (Twenty Million Marks) \/ 20 MILLIONEN\" in bold serif typography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBack:\u003c\/strong\u003e Blank\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWatermark:\u003c\/strong\u003e Oak leaves on a vertical thread\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eComposition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paper\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 193 × 82 mm (7.60 × 3.23 in)\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1871 (German Empire founded):\u003c\/strong\u003e 540,857 km² (208,826 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Texas\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTexas\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oklahoma\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eOklahoma\u003c\/a\u003e (USA); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e (Europe)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1919 (post-Versailles):\u003c\/strong\u003e 468,787 km² (180,998 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/California\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCalifornia\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oregon\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eOregon\u003c\/a\u003e (USA); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spain\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSpain\u003c\/a\u003e (Europe)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1942 (Greater German Reich — incorporated territories only: Austria, Sudetenland, Memel, Danzig-West Prussia, Wartheland, East Upper Silesia, Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen-Malmedy, Luxembourg, Saarland):\u003c\/strong\u003e ~688,000 km² (~265,600 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Texas\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTexas\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Louisiana\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLouisiana\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arkansas\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eArkansas\u003c\/a\u003e (USA); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Switzerland\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSwitzerland\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Belgium\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBelgium\u003c\/a\u003e (Europe)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eToday:\u003c\/strong\u003e 357,114 km² (137,882 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Montana\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eMontana\u003c\/a\u003e (USA); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Poland\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePoland\u003c\/a\u003e (Europe)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIssuing entity:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reichsbank\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eReichsbank\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePrinter:\u003c\/strong\u003e Reichsdruckerei, Berlin\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDemonetized:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Demonetization_(currency)\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eYes\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSignatures:\u003c\/strong\u003e Reichsbank officials (varies by variety)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCurrency:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Papiermark\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGerman Papiermark\u003c\/a\u003e (1873–1923)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCountry: Germany\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEtymology:\u003c\/strong\u003e From the Latin \u003cem\u003eGermania\u003c\/em\u003e, used by Roman writers to describe the tribes east of the Rhine\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSovereignty:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Weimar_Republic\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eWeimar Republic\u003c\/a\u003e (1919–1933)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCapital:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Berlin\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBerlin\u003c\/a\u003e (city pop ~3.7 million, AfSBB 2023; metro pop ~6.1 million)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePopulation:\u003c\/strong\u003e ~84.5 million (UN 2024) — between \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e (~68M) and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnam\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eVietnam\u003c\/a\u003e (~98M); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Texas\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTexas\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/California\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCalifornia\u003c\/a\u003e combined (USA)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eArea:\u003c\/strong\u003e 357,114 km² (137,882 mi²)\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1871 (German Empire founded):\u003c\/strong\u003e 540,857 km² (208,826 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Texas\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTexas\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oklahoma\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eOklahoma\u003c\/a\u003e (USA); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e (Europe)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1919 (post-Versailles):\u003c\/strong\u003e 468,787 km² (180,998 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/California\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCalifornia\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oregon\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eOregon\u003c\/a\u003e (USA); similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spain\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSpain\u003c\/a\u003e (Europe)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1942\u003c\/strong\u003e (Greater German Reich incl. pre-WW! territory plus Austria, Sudetenland, Luxembourg, upper Slovenia, Lódź\/Białystok\/etc.): ~857,000 km² (~330,100 mi²) almost \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Texas\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTexas\u003c\/a\u003e + Florida combined (USA) or \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eFrance\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Switzerland\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSwitzerland\u003c\/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Belgium\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBelgium\u003c\/a\u003e combined\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eToday:\u003c\/strong\u003e 357,114 km² (137,882 mi²) — similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Montana\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eMontana\u003c\/a\u003e (USA) or \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Poland\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePoland\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGDP per capita at \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Purchasing_power_parity\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePPP\u003c\/a\u003e:\u003c\/strong\u003e ~$67,900 USD (IMF 2024) — ranks ~17th out of 193 globally\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMain exports:\u003c\/strong\u003e Motor vehicles, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBorders:\u003c\/strong\u003e Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguages:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGerman\u003c\/a\u003e (official, national); regional\/state-recognized: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Danish_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDanish\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Low_German\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLow German\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Upper_Sorbian_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eUpper Sorbian\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lower_Sorbian_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLower Sorbian\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/North_Frisian_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eNorth Frisian\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saterland_Frisian\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSaterland Frisian\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Romani_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRomani\u003c\/a\u003e; major minority languages: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Turkish_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTurkish\u003c\/a\u003e (~1.5M), \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arabic\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eArabic\u003c\/a\u003e (~1.0M), \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kurdish_languages\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eKurdish\u003c\/a\u003e (~800k), \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Russian_language\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRussian\u003c\/a\u003e (~700k)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGermany Unfiltered\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1923, a loaf of bread cost 200 billion marks. A wheelbarrow of cash could not buy a newspaper. Workers were paid twice a day so they could spend their wages before they lost value by afternoon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGermany invented the kindergarten, the aspirin, and the MP3. It also invented the concentration camp — in German South-West Africa, decades before the Holocaust.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore Nobel Prizes in science have been awarded to Germans than to any other nationality. The country was producing world-class physics while its currency was being used as wallpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Weimar Republic lasted fourteen years. It produced some of the most radical art, architecture, and cinema of the twentieth century. It ended when a failed Austrian painter won an election.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt its 1942 peak, Greater Berlin had a population of ~4.3 million — making it one of the largest cities on earth. By 1945, roughly a third of its buildings were rubble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGermany reunified in 1990 — forty-five years after being divided by the countries that defeated it. The wall that divided Berlin fell not by force but because a government spokesman misread a press release live on television.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Number That Broke Arithmetic\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwenty million marks. In July 1923, that was a meaningful sum — enough to buy a house, perhaps, or a small business. By November 1923, it would not buy a single egg. The \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hyperinflation_in_the_Weimar_Republic\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehyperinflation of the Weimar Republic\u003c\/a\u003e was not a slow erosion. It was a collapse so total and so fast that the government could not print money quickly enough to keep up with its own worthlessness. Notes were overprinted. New denominations were issued weekly. This note — twenty million marks — was itself obsolete within weeks of printing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Caused It\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe roots go back to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_War_I\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eWorld War I\u003c\/a\u003e, which Germany financed almost entirely through debt, expecting to win and collect reparations. It lost. The \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Treaty_of_Versailles\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTreaty of Versailles\u003c\/a\u003e imposed reparations of 132 billion gold marks. When Germany defaulted in 1922, France and Belgium occupied the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ruhr\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRuhr\u003c\/a\u003e — Germany's industrial heartland. The German government responded by printing money to pay striking workers. The printing press became the policy. The mark became confetti.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Reichsbank in the Eye of the Storm\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Reichsbank issued this note. It was the central bank of the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, and in 1923 it was printing money around the clock. Paper mills ran out of paper. Ink suppliers could not keep up. At the peak of the crisis, the Reichsbank was issuing notes in denominations of 100 trillion marks. This note — twenty million — was a rounding error by then. The crisis ended only when the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rentenmark\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRentenmark\u003c\/a\u003e was introduced in November 1923, backed by a mortgage on Germany's agricultural and industrial land. One Rentenmark was exchanged for one trillion Papiermarks. The old currency was simply abolished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eOwn This Artifact of the Collapse\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not just a banknote. It is a document of one of the most dramatic economic catastrophes in modern history — the event that destroyed the savings of an entire middle class, radicalized a generation, and created the political conditions for what came next. In Very Fine Plus condition, it retains strong detail and honest wear consistent with genuine circulation. It was held, spent, and rendered worthless — all within a matter of weeks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Weimar hyperinflation is studied in every economics faculty in the world. This is a piece of it you can hold.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World Money Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51838720540983,"sku":"DE97VFP","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0969\/7165\/3431\/files\/97-vf_-o_copy.jpg?v=1774893405","url":"https:\/\/worldmoneystore.com\/products\/germany-p-97-20000000-marks-20-million-marks-1923-very-fine-plus-long-blank-back","provider":"World Money Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}