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The German mark ( ; currency sign: ℳ︁) was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the gold standard from 1871 to 1914, but like most nations during World War I, the German Empire removed the gold backing in August 1914, and gold
After the fall of the Empire due to the November Revolution of 1918, the mark was succeeded by the Weimar Republic's mark, derisively referred to as the Papiermark () due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1923.
Unification to this system proceeded further due to German Unification in 1871 as well as monetary conventions from 1865 to 1870 expressing a desire to move to the gold standard. For this system a new unit mark was proposed equal to a drittelthaler or Vereinsthaler, also equal to the Austrian gulden, but decimally divided into 100 pfennig instead of the existing 120 pfennig. The new mark of 5 g fine silver was equivalent to g fine gold. With 5 billion French franc (equivalent to 4.05 billion gold marks) secured from France at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the new currency was launched in 1873 in the form of gold 10-mark and 20-mark coins as well as limited legal-tender silver marks and copper pfennigs. The German Empire's conversion to the gold standard led to the same being adopted in the rest of Europe and North America, as well as the change in standard in the Latin Monetary Union from bimetallism to solely gold.
Despite the Vereinsthaler being a silver standard currency, it remained unlimited legal tender for 3 gold marks until it was demonetized in 1908. The South German gulden of Vereinsthaler was converted to or 1.71 gold marks. The gold-based Bremen thaler was converted directly to the mark at a rate of 1 Thaler gold = or 3.32 marks. The Hamburg mark courant or currency was converted at 1 mark = 1.2 Imperial marks, and the Hamburg mark banco of the Bank of Hamburg was converted at 1 mark banco = 1.5 Imperial marks.
From 1 January 1876 onwards, the mark and vereinsthaler became the only . Before 1914, the mark was on a gold standard with 2790 marks equal to 1 kilogram of pure gold (1 mark = mg). The term Goldmark was created later to retrospectively distinguish it from the Papiermark (paper mark) which suffered a serious loss of value through hyperinflation following World War I during hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. For comparison, from 1900 to 1933, the United States adhered to a gold standard as well with the gold dollar containing fine gold; it was therefore worth 4.198 gold marks. The monetary hegemon of the time when the gold mark was in use, however, was the pound sterling, with the sovereign (£1) being valued at 20.43 gold marks.
World War I reparations owed by Germany were stated in gold reserves in 1921, 1929 and 1931; this was the victorious Allies' response to their fear that vanquished Germany might try to pay off the obligation in paper currency. The actual amount of reparations that Germany was obliged to pay out was not the 132 billion marks cited in the London Schedule of 1921 but rather the 50 billion marks stipulated in the A and B Bonds. The actual total payout from 1920 to 1931 (when payments were suspended indefinitely) was 20 billion German gold marks, worth about or . Most of that money came from loans from New York bankers.
Following the Machtergreifung in 1933, payments of reparations were officially abandoned. West Germany after World War II did not resume payment of reparations as such, but did resume the payment of debt that Germany had acquired in the inter-war period to finance its reparation payments, paying off the principal on those debts by 1980. The interest on those debts was paid off on 3 October 2010, the 20th anniversary of German reunification.
These silver coins are token or subsidiary currency for the gold mark and are therefore legal tender only up to 20 marks. However, all silver 3-mark Vereinsthalers issued before 1871 enjoyed unlimited legal tender status even after the switch-over to the gold standard. This ended with the demonetization of the Vereinsthaler in 1908 and the introduction of the new subsidiary 3-mark coins.
The 5-mark coin, however, was significantly closer in value to older thalers (and other such crown-sized coins).
The 20 mark is the most seen and offers a variety of different types that were mass-produced and therefore can be purchased at a low premium above each coin's melt value. However, some designs are extremely elusive given that they were struck in very low mintages. The rarest type features Adolph Friedrich V with just 1,160 pieces issued by the Berlin Mint.
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