German gold mark

The Goldmark (officially: just Mark) was the name used for the coinage of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914. Before unification, the different German states had issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16 2/3 grams of pure silver. Although the mark was based on gold rather than silver, a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 mark = 1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion. Southern Germany had used the Gulden as the standard unit of account, which was worth 4/7 of a Vereinsthaler and hence, became worth 1.71 marks in the new currency. Bremen had used a gold based Thaler which was converted directly to the mark at a rate of 1 gold Thaler = 3.32 mark. Hamburg had used its own mark prior to 1873. This was replaced by the Goldmark at a rate of 1 Hamburg mark = 1.2 Goldmark.

From January 1 1876 onwards, the mark became the only legal tender. The name Goldmark was created later to distinguish them from the Papiermark (paper mark) which suffered a massive loss of value through inflation following the First World War.

The coins of the Goldmark currency had internal value in precious metals but were not bullion coins. The highest values were minted in gold; 2790 marks equalled 1 kilogram of pure gold.

Coins of the German Empire

Gold coins (900/1000 gold)

20 Mark, 7.168 g gold
10 Mark, 3.583 g gold
5 Mark, 1.791 g gold

Silver coins (900/1000 silver)

Smaller values were pressed in silver, with 1 mark equalling 5g of silver.

5 Mark, 25 g silver
3 Mark, 15 g silver, from 1908 onwards
2 Mark, 10 g silver
1 Mark, 5 g silver
1/2 Mark, 2.5 g silver

50 Pfennig, 2.5 g silver (= 1/2 mark)
20 Pfennig, 1 g silver, only until 1878

The 3 mark coin was introduced as a replacement for the Vereinsthaler coins of the previous currency, whose silver content was slightly more than that of the 3 mark coin.

Small coins

Smaller coins were pressed without content of precious metals, using bronze or nickel.

50 Pfennig (Aluminium: 1919-1922)
25 Pfennig (Nickel: 1909-1912)
20 Pfennig (Nickel)
10 Pfennig (Copper-Nickel: 1873-1916, Iron and Zinc until 1922)
5 Pfennig (Copper-Nickel: 1873-1915, Iron:1915-1922)
2 Pfennig (Copper to 1916 then discontinued)
1 Pfennig (Copper: 1873-1916, Aluminium:1916-1918)

During World War I coins were made from aluminium, zinc, iron and steel.

Design of the coins

Similar with the euro coin, there were lots of different pictures on the coins (2 mark to 20 mark). Every state of the German Empire could make their own picture side. Mostly the picture of the monarch of the state was used, the free towns Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck used their city insignia. The other side of the coins showed the Reichsadler, i.e. the eagle insignia of the German Empire. Many of the smaller states issued coins in very small numbers, thus are extremely rare and valuable. The principality of Lippe was the only state not to issue any gold coins in this period.Coins up to the 1 mark coin were designed identically in the whole empire.Coin1 Coins2

Banknotes

In addition to coins, the German Empire currency used paper money. During the First World War a 1 and 2 Mark was issued along with the 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000 mark, issued by the Reichsbank. Banknotes could be exchanged into legal tender (i.e. gold coins) for their nominal value. Banknote series

German Empire | German currencies | Gold coins | Modern obsolete currencies