Bayleaf Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Started clearing mum-in-law's effects and found a load of stuff from Dad-in-law's time in the 8th Army. Including a German bank note for 1,000,000 Marks! Then I looked at the date of issue - 1923. So I looked up the exchange rate, and found "By November, 1923 this had changed to 4,200,000,000,000 marks to the dollar." Cancel the world cruise, and send the Roller back to the showroom....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Started clearing mum-in-law's effects and found a load of stuff from Dad-in-law's time in the 8th Army. Including a German bank note for 1,000,000 Marks! Then I looked at the date of issue - 1923. So I looked up the exchange rate, and found "By November, 1923 this had changed to 4,200,000,000,000 marks to the dollar." Cancel the world cruise, and send the Roller back to the showroom....! Well, that was hyperinflation for you :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Started clearing mum-in-law's effects and found a load of stuff from Dad-in-law's time in the 8th Army. Including a German bank note for 1,000,000 Marks! Then I looked at the date of issue - 1923. So I looked up the exchange rate, and found "By November, 1923 this had changed to 4,200,000,000,000 marks to the dollar." Cancel the world cruise, and send the Roller back to the showroom....! I have a number of postage stamps from this and later years; if memory serves they were printer, over printed and sometimes overprinted again - I think the top "price" I have is 800Million, or, probably 2d. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I have a number of postage stamps from this and later years; if memory serves they were printer, over printed and sometimes overprinted again - I think the top "price" I have is 800Million, or, probably 2d. There are pictures of Germany in the 1920's of Deutchmarks being pushed to the shops in a wheelbarrow (thousands of them) just to buy a loaf of bread, Deutchmarks being used as wallpaper (because the notes were worthless for anything else) and Deutchmarks being hung up on a nail in the toilet as toilet paper (likewise). In fact the basic bit of paper they were printed on must have been worth more, as a piece of paper, than its value as a banknote. Obviously, to live in a country with worthless money and no means to pay for basic commodities leads people to take desperate measures. Hyperinflation has happened in several countries and it always leads to social upheaval. What happened in Germany in the 1920's was one of the factors which allowed Hitler to gain a foothold into German politics and I suppose which eventually developed into one of the route causes of the second world war. Now about 8 years ago I was in the post office at Moorfoot waiting to buy some stamps. I was behind 2 coloured African gentlemen who were arranging a trip back home and wanted to buy some foreign currency. The men were from Zimbabwe and wanted to purchase Zimbabwe dollars using pound sterling. The cashier checked their details and then had to get an exchange rate and check availability as it isn't every day someone comes in wanting Zimbabwe dollars. It turned out that they had them in stock and the exchange rate that day was exactly, and conveniently 4Z$ to the £. The men wanted £500 worth and so were soon fixed up with 2000 Z$. that was 8 years ago, - I do sometimes wonder, with the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy under the Muggabe Government and the resulting hyperinflation how many Zimbabwe dollars they would get for their 500 quid now, - and if the local post office would have enough of them in stock :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 There are pictures of Germany in the 1920's of Deutchmarks being pushed to the shops in a wheelbarrow (thousands of them) just to buy a loaf of bread, Deutchmarks being used as wallpaper (because the notes were worthless for anything else) and Deutchmarks being hung up on a nail in the toilet as toilet paper (likewise). In fact the basic bit of paper they were printed on must have been worth more, as a piece of paper, than its value as a banknote. Obviously, to live in a country with worthless money and no means to pay for basic commodities leads people to take desperate measures. Hyperinflation has happened in several countries and it always leads to social upheaval. What happened in Germany in the 1920's was one of the factors which allowed Hitler to gain a foothold into German politics and I suppose which eventually developed into one of the route causes of the second world war. Now about 8 years ago I was in the post office at Moorfoot waiting to buy some stamps. I was behind 2 coloured African gentlemen who were arranging a trip back home and wanted to buy some foreign currency. The men were from Zimbabwe and wanted to purchase Zimbabwe dollars using pound sterling. The cashier checked their details and then had to get an exchange rate and check availability as it isn't every day someone comes in wanting Zimbabwe dollars. It turned out that they had them in stock and the exchange rate that day was exactly, and conveniently 4Z$ to the £. The men wanted £500 worth and so were soon fixed up with 2000 Z$. that was 8 years ago, - I do sometimes wonder, with the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy under the Muggabe Government and the resulting hyperinflation how many Zimbabwe dollars they would get for their 500 quid now, - and if the local post office would have enough of them in stock Overprint, devalue, Wombling-free, The over-printing Nazis Of NurembergCommon ... No, that's not working out, is it ? Hungary 1950's, same stuff; Greece, OK better not go onto that topic just yet ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Overprint, devalue, Wombling-free, The over-printing Nazis Of NurembergCommon ... No, that's not working out, is it ? Hungary 1950's, same stuff; Greece, OK better not go onto that topic just yet ... Before the Euro when every European country had its own currency the Italian lira didn't seem to be worth very much, - you got a hell of a lot of them to the pound and more recently the Turkish currency, also confusingly called the Lira (Turkish Lira) appeared to be worth even less. In fact exchange rates make you realise how valuable (but not strong) the pound sterling (£) really is. For every other country, including the mighty US Dollar ($), you always get more than one of them to the pound £, indicating that our base unit is worth more than theirs. Now there's a challenge, Is there any currency where you only get 0. (nought point something) of theirs to the pound? Indicating a more valuable base unit than ours? In recent months it appears that the Euro is ALMOST there, and if we are ever going to join the Euro system then the easiest time to do it would be if and when the exchange rate is £1 = €1. If there is a currency where the exchange rate makes the £ a fraction of their base unit, what currency is it? and which country uses it? Perhaps they are the ones who are rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Before the Euro when every European country had its own currency the Italian lira didn't seem to be worth very much, - you got a hell of a lot of them to the pound and more recently the Turkish currency, also confusingly called the Lira (Turkish Lira) appeared to be worth even less. In fact exchange rates make you realise how valuable (but not strong) the pound sterling (£) really is. For every other country, including the mighty US Dollar ($), you always get more than one of them to the pound £, indicating that our base unit is worth more than theirs. Now there's a challenge, Is there any currency where you only get 0. (nought point something) of theirs to the pound? Indicating a more valuable base unit than ours? In recent months it appears that the Euro is ALMOST there, and if we are ever going to join the Euro system then the easiest time to do it would be if and when the exchange rate is £1 = €1. If there is a currency where the exchange rate makes the £ a fraction of their base unit, what currency is it? and which country uses it? Perhaps they are the ones who are rich. Elfland where £1 = 0.3 Unicorn-hooves; not overly practical for the wallet/purse though ! Not overly serious ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Elfland where £1 = 0.3 Unicorn-hooves; not overly practical for the wallet/purse though ! Not overly serious ... But is there any REAL currency which does have that sort of exchange rate? I don't know of any, and unless there are then WE really must be rich :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Well, that was hyperinflation for you Don't know what they were moaning about, it wasn't all that bad ... probably The scale of hyperinflation can be seen in this chart which illustrates the cost of items against an index. 1 is the starting point, anything above 1 is an increase in cost relative to that first figure (so 3 would mean that items had risen in price by 300%). Wholesale Price Index July 1914 1.0 Jan 1919 2.6 July 1919 3.4 Jan 1920 12.6 Jan 1921 14.4 July 1921 14.3 Jan 1922 36.7 July 1922 100.6 Jan 1923 2,785 July 1923 194,000 Nov 1923 726,000,000,000 Source: http://www.usagold.c...nNightmare.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Don't know what they were moaning about, it wasn't all that bad ... probably The scale of hyperinflation can be seen in this chart which illustrates the cost of items against an index. 1 is the starting point, anything above 1 is an increase in cost relative to that first figure (so 3 would mean that items had risen in price by 300%). Wholesale Price Index July 1914 1.0 Jan 1919 2.6 July 1919 3.4 Jan 1920 12.6 Jan 1921 14.4 July 1921 14.3 Jan 1922 36.7 July 1922 100.6 Jan 1923 2,785 July 1923 194,000 Nov 1923 726,000,000,000 Source: http://www.usagold.c...nNightmare.html What caused this hyperinflation? The cost of the first world war was immense, in money as well as lives. The war left Germany a devasted country, although most of the damage and loss was suffered in France, Belgium and other countries where the war had remained locked into a small area for years of bombardments, attrition and "big pushes" Further, as Germany had lost the war, and surrendered unconditionally, this left what would now be a poor country in a poor economic state open to claims for damages and compensation from other countries. I can see this situation very quickly leading to hyperinflation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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