German banknotes: September 1923

During this period Germans received their wages several times a day because prices were rising every hour. On 1 September 1923 the banknote series from late August continued with new denominations.

For 500,000,000 marks a German could obtain US$5.56, but only two weeks later just one dollar.

The central bank's warehouses held large stocks of an unissued 1,000-mark note printed in 1921. It was decided to give these banknotes a new value: 1,000,000,000 marks.

Demand for new series of high-value banknotes was enormous. From 5 to 15 September 1923 three new notes were issued: 1,000,000,000 marks on 5 September, 5,000,000,000 marks on 10 September and 10,000,000,000 marks on 15 September.

By the end of September 1923, 10,000,000,000 marks were equal to 50 US cents. Only two weeks earlier, when the note was issued, they had been equal to US$20.