While all of you were an enormous help with my Morgans I dug this out of one of my boxes. Quite old but I know nothing as to it's value. I know my grandfather had it while I was growing up, then passed it to my father, when he died it was given to me. Help !
I don't know about numismatic value, but it's a neat piece of history. This note was issued during the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic. Even if it turned out to be worthless, I'd hang on to it, myself.
In the big Albert Pick world paper money catalog, it is Germany #73, ranging from 50 cents in VG to $30 in uncirculated, 1996 edition.
The picture shows a wolf at the throat of the German people, and the designer may have had some sympathy with popular feeling about war reparations after WWI. Turn the note sideways and you will see the jaws,(with a bit of imagination.) Anyway, that's what that note is famous for. No great value, especially in that condition but historically interesting.
As for that wolf, weeelll ... in a similar way, some people claimed that Dürer's Porträt eines jungen Mannes on the 10,000 Mark note shows a vampire. It's simply the shades of the neck, visible on the painting too. But I guess people saw what they wanted to see. Christian
Here's a piece on the 10000 "vampire" note: http://www.banknoteden.com/Germany.html Stylistically, Its a very similar piece to the 500 mark note. As for me, I never could see the vampire on my own - I had to have an outline to show me the image. Now I can't help but seeing the vampire, wolf, etc. each time I see these notes.
Right, when somebody tells you that there is a wolf, vampire, whatever, and even highlights the portion that supposedly depicts it, you will finally see it. Unlike the author of that article (your link), I have no idea where the engraver "altered" the design ... Christian
Some of the German Hyperinflation money carries a premium. I have a VF30 1923 Notgeld 50 Million Mark German Coin that has a current collector value between $100-$125. If it was a MS grade , it would be around $300. So before you have to find it again, it's worth a researching to see if it does have value. I have no reference books on world paper currency or I would have looked for you.
This sounds like COIN terminology. MS stands for Mint State, and paper currency is printed, not minted. An equivalent term for paper money would be CU, for Choice Uncirculated.
I guess that's why I said coin in my post and used the correct MS terminology. It wasn't meant to just sound like coin terminology, it was meant to exactly be coin terminology. "And paper currency is printed, not minted" I don't understand where this came from. I think everyone reading this post is aware of that. The point I was making is some hyperinflation money that was worthless then has become collectable and valuable now.
I apologize for coming back a little strong. After I posted my response, I realized not everyone is aware that German coins were made in this high of a denomination. Most were bills and could have easily confused anyone reading it, especially since it was posted in the paper currency forum.
