German banknotes: July 1923

On 1 July 1923 one US dollar was equal to 140,000 marks.

Only 30 days later a German had to pay 1,500,000 marks for one US dollar.

It is therefore understandable why banknotes issued toward the end of July 1923 were printed on only one side.

The 100,000-mark denomination was worth only 7 US cents; for such a value it was not considered necessary to print a serial number on the note.

Print quality control was very low. This made it possible to entrust even small companies with producing small-denomination notes, while the 1,000,000-mark banknote was printed by L. C. Wittich'sche Hofbuchdruckerei in Darmstadt.

The German central bank held large stocks of paper intended for 500-mark notes. In July 1923 this paper was instead used to print 5,000,000-mark banknotes.

Demand for high-value paper currency was met by issuing 10,000,000-, 20,000,000- and 50,000,000-mark notes.

At the end of July 1923 the 50,000,000-mark denomination was equivalent to US$33.