What Does Hyperinflation Look Like? Just Take A Look At The Weimar Republic In 1923

Germany went through its worst inflation in 1923. In 1922, the highest denomination was 50,000 Mark. By 1923, the highest denomination was 100,000,000,000,000 Mark. In December 1923 the exchange rate was 4,200,000,000,000 Marks to 1 US dollar. In 1923, the rate of inflation hit 3.25 × 10⁶ percent per month (prices double every two days). Stores would close for lunch to change the prices on items. I have scanned a bunch of stamps from my collection so that you can see how in less than a year the nomination on stamps soared into the stratosphere.


150 Pfennings or 1.5 Reichsmark
We are still in 1922 here and this value is not out of the normal range



200 Reichsmark
Here is where the trouble is already beginning, we are in early 1923 and already we have stamps with hundreds of Reichsmarks





30 Thousand Reichsmark



30 Thousand Reichsmark
Thirty thousand in a couple of month, soon you can pay of a big chunk of your mortgage with that :-)





50 Thousand Reichsmark
A whopping 50 thousand and we are still in early 1923


100 Thousand
Now we are talking serious money, or are we really?



800 Thousand Reichsmark
Wow almost a million!




50 Million Reichsmark
Fifty million, now that is some serious money.



1 Billion Reichsmark
One billion, we were all billionaires back then :-(



10 Billion Reichsmark
Ten Billion, shown here in a block of four for a whopping 40 billion, almost as rich as Bill Gates. In this same set that came out in 1923 there was also a stamp for 50 billion Reichsmark. Beginning on November 20, 1923, 1,000,000,000,000 old Marks were exchanged for 1 Rentemark, this ended the hyperinflation and the German Mark was never in trouble again.

There were other countries that also suffered from hyperinflation. In Hungary it was even worse than in Germany, prices double every 15 hours in Hungary

Zeppelin on stamps

This week I decided to show some of the Graf Zeppelin stamps.

LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (Deutsches Luftschiff Zeppelin #127; Registration: D-LZ 127) was a German-built and -operated, passenger-carrying, hydrogen-filled, rigid airship which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the German pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was a Graf or Count in the German nobility. During its operating life, the airship made 590 flights covering more than a million miles (1.6 million km). It was designed to be operated by a crew of 36 officers and men. More about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin

United States of America
1930 Scott C13 - C15


Zeppelin over the Atlantic Ocean


Zeppelin between continents

Zeppelin passing Globe


1933 Scott C18


Airship "Graf Zeppelin "


Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic

1930 Scott C21


Airship over Dnepostroi Dam


1931 Scott C30- C33

Northpole issue, Graf Zeppelin and Icebreaker Malygin transferring mail


1930 Scott C12 and C13


Graf Zeppelin and "Call to complete 5 year plan in 4 years"


1931-32 Scott C15-C19

C15 Symbolical of airship communication from the Tundra to the Steppes
C16 Airship over Dnepostroi Dam
C17 Airship over Lenin Mausoleum
C18 Airship exploring Artic regions
C19 Constructing an airship


Italy - Aegean Islands
1933 Scott C20 - C25


Graf Zeppelin over Rhodes


Bolivia
1930 Scott C24-C26



No C8-C10 surcharged


1930 Scott C11, C12, C15, C17

Flight of the airship Graf Zeppelin from Europe to Brazil and return via Lakehurst, New Jersey


Partial sheet of one of the stamps from the set above


Brazil
1931 Scott C26, C27

C18-C19 Surcharged


Finland
1930 Scott C1

Scott 178 overprinted in red. For use on mail carried in Graf Zeppelin on return flight from Finland to Germany on September 24th, 1930

German Reich
Scott C43- C45


Graf Zeppelin flight to the Century of Progress International Exhibition in Chicago

Scott C56

Graf Zeppelin


Scott C40 - C42




Graf Zeppelin  polar flight

Scott C57 - C58


The Hindenburg


Greece
1933
Scott C5-C7




Zeppelin over Acropolis


Hungary
Scott C24 - C25

Turul carrying messenger


Iceland
Scott C9 block of 4



Scott C9 -  C11


Unknown


Liechtenstein
Scott C7 - C8
 

Zeppelin over Naafkopf Falknis range


Scott C15 - C16


Airship Hindenburg

San Marino
Scott C11 - C16

Cool looking surcharge

Video
Here is also a cool video of all these stamps, you can have this running as a nice background




Covers
Some cool looking covers from various countries