Germany/Berlin 20.2.1918 - 20 Mark ‘Darlehnskassenschein’ - No V.9904767 - VF

Issuer: Germany 1871-1948 

Emperor: Wilhelm II (1888-1918)

Currency: Mark (1873-1923)

Size: 140 × 90 mm

Obverse: Image of the Roman goddess Minerva at left and the god Mercury at right. Date of issue at centre. Anti-counterfeit warning along bottom border.

Lettering: Darlehnskassenschein - Zwanzig Mark - Berlin, den 20. Februar 1918 - Reichsschuldenverwaltung - Wer Darlehnskassenscheine nachmacht oder verfälscht oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft.

Translation: Loan Receipt - Twenty Marks - Berlin, the 20th February 1918 - Reichs Debt Administration - Whosoever copies or falsifies loan receipts or acquires and puts copied or falsified notes into circulation will be punished with no less than two years of prison time.

Reverse: Man in armour at left, woman at right. Serial number appears in red below both images.

Lettering: Darlehnskassenschein - 20 Mark - Darlehnskassenschein

Watermark: The note is printed on watermarked paper showing the note's value (20).

References: P# 57

Comments: „Darlehnskassenschein '' were banknotes issued between 1914 and 1922 by the Reichsschuldenverwaltung (Reich debt administration). They were in use until the hyperinflation in 1923.

These banknotes were not legal tender, however they had to be accepted by all public treasuries. Their value was guaranteed by loans on industrial and agricultural goods. Even without the status as legal tender Darlehnskassenscheine were a de facto currency widely used as a parallel currency to the Goldmark during WWI and the beginning of the Weimar Republic.