GERMANY, pre-World War I inflation lot: 1908-1910
$10.00
GERMANY, pre-World War I inflation lot: 1908-10, 50 mark, 2 kinds of 100 mark, and 1000 mark, 4 pieces, VG
3 in stock
Description
I have some quantity of these. Ask me if interested.
These very common notes were issued at the same time as silver 1 mark coins. They indicate a diversion of value between paper money and coins. People would get stuck with these and had to watch them lose value.
Germany united as a collection of independent entities: kingdoms, duchies, free cities, etc. The finances were an interesting hybrid of local and central control systems.
Aside from China, other governments started using circulating “banknotes” starting in the 17th century AD. The practice became general in the 19th century. In the 20th century value of paper money in circulation far surpassed the value of coinage. In the 21st century paper money is fading and credit transactions are growing.
Paper money, meaning the promise of a government to pay a set amount, and the paper promise allowed to circulate at will, was probably first used in China in the 12th century AD. At that time the merchants and governments of Europe were just writing letters to each other about what they owed.
