The total value of the stamps on the railway post cover (Berlin to Hannover) is 2 million Marks. On the face of it, one might think this was philatelic in nature. This may not be the case.

However, there is a small anomaly: the 'up to 20 gram' domestic, city to city basic letter rate, in September 1923 was 250,000 Marks. But, the day after this cover was postmarked, the rate went up to 2 million Marks. There is one very remote possibility: it was a 160 gram letter. But there may of course be a simpler explanation, based on the dates.

At that time, Germany was suffering badly from hyperinflation: the Mark was fluctuating daily and prices were rocketing. I remember my mother telling me, that her mother witnessed people carrying money for shopping in wheelbarrows. How true this is I can't rightly say.

By the beginning of December 1923, a domestic letter cost 100,000 billion « North American convention » Marks to mail.

I would imagine that a nice collection could be formed, showing the constant rate changes over a very short period:





Further information, and the above table can be found in Roy Lingen's article: German inflation 1923 - Stamps and Postal History

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My brother worked for Ford SA in Brazil and a few decades ago was paying his apartment rent with two full shopping bags of cash. Venezuela is undergoing the same thing now.

Your entire retirement savings are reduced to the price of a loaf of bread (unless of course you bank outside of your country of residence)

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