User:Bermicourt/Card games/Mark (1871)

The Mark (sign: ℳ), later referred to as the "Goldmark", was the official currency of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914. One mark was equivalent to 0.358423 or $1000⁄2790$ grammes of fine gold, and gold circulation coins were minted in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 marks. It became legal tender as a result of the first Reich Coin Act of 4 December 1871. and its designation on bonds and shares at that time was Mark – Deutsche Reichswährung. Although the Mark was based on a gold standard, there was a fixed exchange rate between the new currency and the old Vereinsthaler of 3 Marks per Thaler. As a result, 3 Mark coins continued to be referred to as thalers even after the Vereinsthaler was withdrawn from circulation in 1876 when the Mark became the sole legal tender of the German Empire.

In August 1914, with the onset of the First World War, the sale of gold coins to the public was suspended, the gold standard was abandoned and the Papiermark replaced the Goldmark. The currency is occasionally referred to as the Reichsmark, although officially that did not come into being until 1924.