10 marks

By analysing the characteristics of the bills (size, level of graphic sophistication, complexity of printing and paper type used), collectors and numismatists have distinguished four periods of transformation of German replacement money issued during and after World War I. The presented bill from Szczecinek, worth 10 marks, belongs to the third period, called the period of large replacement money (Großnotgeld), the name of which refers to the high denominations of 5, 10, and 20 marks at that time. Increasingly higher amounts appeared in an avalanche after a wave of failures on the front in 1918, causing tension in society, which, in turn, caused people to have a reserve of cash, thus taking it out of circulation. The Reichsbank was unable to overcome difficulties in supplying the domestic market with banknotes, so local administrations were officially asked to help. As this example from Szczecinek shows, these bills imitated banknotes to some extent, although publishers usually refrained from such similarities. The obverse and reverse sub printing, which resembles the guilloche grid characteristic of state money, features Gothic lettering. The lower corners feature denomination markings in a style also found on Reich banknotes. Unlike real money, however, they had a predetermined circulation time, after which they had to be redeemed by the issuer, which is why many have handwritten notations "Entwertet" – devalued. The depreciation information was intended to protect against the bill being presented again for redemption at the city treasury, as the bills were often sold to collectors. Mieszko Pawłowski