German gold mark


Goldmark is the term by which the gold standard-based currency of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914 is usually referred to. Officially, the currency was just the Mark, sign: ℳ). Papiermark refers to the much devaluated Mark after the gold standard was given up in August 1914, and gold and silver coins ceased to circulate.

History

Before unification in 1870, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies. Most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing grams of pure silver. In moving from a silver standard currency to a gold standard currency, the designers of the Mark sought to establish a simple relation to the Vereinsthaler and to approximate the value of the Mark Courant, the currency used by the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck which equaled 1/3 of a Vereinsthaler. Thus, the ratio of three Marks per Vereinsthaler defined the gold content of the Mark. At this ratio, Vereinsthalers were legal tender up to 1908.
Southern Germany had used the banknote from 1904, designed by Alexander Zick
From 1 January 1876 onwards, the mark became the only legal tender. The name Goldmark was created later to distinguish it from the German Papiermark which suffered a serious loss of value through hyperinflation following World War I. The gold mark was on a gold standard with 2790 marks equal to 1 kilogram of pure gold. From 1900 to 1933, the United States adhered to a gold standard as well, with the value of the dollar being fixed at a price of approximately of gold. The gold mark therefore had a value of approximately. The monetary hegemon of the time when the gold mark was in use, however, was the pound sterling, with £1 being valued at 20.43 gold marks.
World War I reparations owed by Germany were stated in gold marks in 1921, 1929 and 1931; this was the victorious Allies' response to their fear that vanquished Germany might try to pay off the obligation in paper marks. The actual amount of reparations that Germany was obliged to pay out was not the 132 billion marks cited in the London Schedule of 1921 but rather the 50 billion marks stipulated in the A and B Bonds. The actual total payout from 1920 to 1931 was 20 billion German gold marks, worth about or. Most of that money came from loans from New York bankers.
Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, payments of reparations were officially abandoned. West Germany after World War II did not resume payment of reparations as such, but did resume the payment of debt that Germany had acquired in the inter-war period to finance its reparation payments, paying off the principal on those debts by 1980. The interest on those debts was paid off on 3 October 2010, the 20th anniversary of German reunification.

Coins

Coins of denominations between 1 Pfennig and 1 Mark were issued in standard designs for the whole Empire, whilst those above 1 Mark were issued by the individual states, using a standard design for the reverses with a design specific to the state on the obverse, generally a portrait of the monarch of the kingdom or duchy ; while the free cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck each used the city's coat of arms. Occasionally Commemorative coins were minted, in which cases the obverse and the reverse designs might depart from the usual pictorial standards. Many of the smaller states issued coins in very small numbers. Also, in general all states' coinage became very limited after the First World War began. Well preserved examples of such low mintage coins can be rare and valuable. The Principality of Lippe was the only state not to issue any gold coins in this period.

Base metal coins

Subsidiary silver coins were minted in.900 fineness to a standard of 5 grams silver per Mark. Production of 2 and 5 Mark coins ceased in 1915 while 1 Mark coins continued to be issued until 1916. A few 3 Mark coins were minted until 1918, and ½ Mark coins continued to be issued in silver until 1919.
These silver coins are token or subsidiary currency for the goldmark and are therefore legal tender only up to 20 marks. However, all silver 3-mark Vereinsthalers issued before 1871 enjoyed unlimited legal tender status even after the switch-over to the gold standard. This ended with the demonetization of the Vereinsthaler in 1908 and the introduction of the new subsidiary 3 Mark coins.
The 5 Mark coin, however, was significantly closer in value to older Thalers.

Gold coins

Gold coins were minted in.900 fineness to a standard of 2790 Mark = 1 kilogram of gold. Gold coin production ceased in 1915. 5 Mark gold coins were minted only in 1877 and 1878.
Banknotes were issued by the Imperial Treasury and the Reichsbank, as well as by the banks of some of the states. Imperial Treasury notes were issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 50 Mark, whilst Reichsbank notes were produced in denominations of 20, 50, 100 and 1000 Mark. The notes issued after 1914 are referred to as Papiermark.

Currency signs

In Unicode, the Mark sign is. The Pfennig is.