Mark (money)

This article is about the archaic weight of measure/currency. For other uses of mark, see the disambiguation page Mark.

1923 50 Million Mark - this quantity would have been worth approximately $12 million (US-1923) 9 years earlier, but only $1US when printed. Worthless a few weeks later.

Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century post-classical Latin as marca, marcha, marha, marcus)^[1] was a measure of weight (Mark (weight)) only for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and equivalent to 8 oz. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages (see du Cange, Gloss. med. et infim. Lat., s.v. Marca for a full list). In England the "mark" never appeared as a coin, but as a money of account only, and apparently came into use in the 10th century through the Danes. It first equalled 100 pence, but after the Norman Conquest equalled 160 pence = 2/3 of the Pound Sterling, or 13 shillings and 4 pence. In Scotland, the Merk Scots comprised a silver coin of this value, issued first in 1570 and afterwards in 1663. In northern Germany (especially Hamburg) and Scandinavia, the Mark was a unit of account and coin worth 16 schilling or skilling. Germany adopted the Mark as its currency following unification in 1871. This first Mark came to be known as the Goldmark, which became Papiermark later and eventually suffered hyperinflation in 1923. A new Mark was introduced, called the Rentenmark (worth 1,000,000,000,000 Papiermark), swiftly replaced by the Reichsmark in 1924. The German Mark was introduced by the western allies in their zones of occupation in 1948, with the Soviets issuing their own Deutsche Mark (often referred to as the East German Mark or Ostmark, later officially called the "Mark der DDR") later that same year.

Modern usage

"Mark" can refer to the following currencies:

• In Germany:
  • 1873 - 1914 German Goldmark, the currency of the German Empire
  • 1914 - 1923 German Papiermark
  • 1923 - 1924 German Rentenmark
  • 1924 - 1948 German Reichsmark
  • 1948 - 1990 East German Mark or Ostmark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
  • 1948 - 2001 German Mark or Deutsche Mark (D-Mark, DM), the currency of (West) Germany
• In other countries:
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia until 1927
  • Finnish mark or markka, the currency of Finland from 1860 until 2001
  • Polish marka

See also

• Mark (weight)
• Mark (unit)
• British coinage
• Markland

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Notes