German mark (1871)
German currency (1871–1923)
The German mark (German: Goldmark [ˈɡɔltmaʁk] ; sign: ℳ︁) was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the pfennig (₰) as its minor unit; 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 coins ceased to circulate.
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 (lit. 'Paper mark') due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1923.
History
The introduction of the German mark in 1873 was the culmination of decades-long efforts to unify the various currencies used by the German Confederation. The Zollverein unified in 1838 the Prussian and South German currencies at a fixed rate of 1 Prussian thaler = 1+3⁄4 South German gulden = 16.704 g fine silver. A larger currency convention in 1857 replaced the Prussian thaler with the Vereinsthaler of 16+2⁄3 g fine silver, equivalent to 1 North German thaler, 1+1⁄2 Austro-Hungarian florins, or 1+3⁄4 South German gulden.
The law of 4 December 1871 named one tenth of a new imperial gold coin a mark, divided it into 100 pfennigs and authorized gold coins of 10 and 20 marks. The Coinage Act of 9 July 1873 made the mark the unit of account of the Reich gold currency, which was to replace the state currencies. An imperial ordinance of 22 September 1875 set 1 January 1876 as the date on which the Reich currency came into force throughout Germany.
“German mark (1871)” enters the record as german currency (1871–1923). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what German, mark and currency can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“German mark (1871)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, German, mark and currency provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q560355. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1871, 1918, 1914 and 1923.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “German mark (1871)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow German mark (1871) primary sources, German mark (1871) archive and German research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “German mark (1871)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “German mark (1871)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.