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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtisimo, post: 2611615, member: 83845&quot;]I&#039;ve always had an interest in inflation Era coinage because they usually circulate during an important historical period following some kind of a tragedy and because they are usually pretty cheap considering a lot of them were minted. I got this coin for Christmas and I figured I&#039;d share it with you all.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]571453[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]571454[/ATTACH]</p><p>1923 Wiemar Republic (Germany) 500 Mark</p><p><b>Obverse:</b> Denomination above date</p><p><b>Reverse:</b> Eagle</p><p><br /></p><p>During WWI Germany made the decision to fund the war effort by borrowing, assuming they would be able to pay the money back with the spoils of their victory.&nbsp; When they lost the war they were straddled with debt as well as reparations amounting to 132 billion Gold Marks.&nbsp; The German government also decided to mint coins out of less expensive metals such as aluminum and zinc.&nbsp; The result of all this was inflation.&nbsp; Germany adopted a strategy of printing as much money as possible to buy foreign currency to pay their reparations.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]571457[/ATTACH] </p><p>Stacks of nearly worthless paper marks during the hyperinflation period of 1923 (curtesy of Wikipedia) </p><p><br /></p><p>When they could no longer afford to pay after the paper mark became worthless, France and Belgium occupied the industrial heart of Germany in order to force payment in other commodities such as coal.&nbsp; The resulting strikes and resistance led to hyperinflation of a magnitude that had never been seen before.&nbsp; See below for a timeline of the inflation and mark values vs. USD.</p><p><br /></p><p>1919 - $1 = 48 Marks</p><p>May 1921 - $1 = 90 Marks</p><p>June 1921 - $1 = 330 Marks</p><p>June 1922 - $1 = 320 Marks</p><p>December 1922 - $1 = 7,400 Marks</p><p>November 1923 - $1 = 4,210,500,000,000 Marks</p><p><br /></p><p>It was during the worst of the inflationary period that the above coin was minted in Aluminum and was worth no more than the metal itself. It is very light in the hand and the quality is not up to the standards of the pre-war coinage. To me this doesn&#039;t detract from its interest as it is a product of the circumstances it was made under.&nbsp; The inflation was finally stabilized in early 1924 by the introduction of the Rentenmark.</p><p><br /></p><p>So what do you think? Post your inflationary coins and bills![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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