Deutsche Mark - Banknotes

Banknotes

There were four series of German mark banknotes:

• The first was issued in 1948 by the Allied military. There were denominations of ½, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 marks, with two designs of 20 and 50 marks notes.
• The second series was introduced in 1948 by the Bank deutscher Länder, an institution of the western occupation government. The designs were similar to the US Dollar and French franc, as the job of designing and printing the different denominations was shared between the Bank of France and the American Bank Note Company. There were denominations of 5 and 10 pfennigs, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 marks.
• The third series was introduced in 1960 by the Bundesbank, depicting neutral symbols, paintings by the German painter Albrecht Dürer, and buildings. There were 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 mark denominations.
• The fourth was introduced in 1990 by the Bundesbank to counter advances in forgery technology. The notes depicted German artists and scientists together with symbols and tools of their trade. This series added a 200 mark denomination, to decrease the use of 100 mark banknotes, which made up 54% of all circulating banknotes, and to fill the gap between the DM 100 and DM 500 denomination.

The notes with a value greater than 200 marks were rarely seen.