The currency was donated to the United Sates Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Joel Forman.
Rentenmark bank note printed in dark green ink on lightweight, rectangular, cream-colored paper. On the face is a rectangle with a decorative, wavy border around an olive green and pink, geometric backprint and a wide margin to the right. On the left end of the rectangle, there are two medallions with wavy borders: a large, square-shaped one with a smaller, circular one just below it. Several lines of German text are printed across the center of the rectangle, and the denomination is printed in the right corners and in the smaller medallion. The serial number is printed in red ink at top center. The denomination is also printed in the top right margin above an embossed, circular bank seal with German text around a wheat sheaf at the bottom. The margin is yellow with flecks of brown and blue throughout. On the back is a rectangle with an overlapping olive green and pink, wavy backprint and a wide margin to the left. In the center of the rectangle, there are two large circular medallions. The left medallion has a wheat sheaf in the center, and the right one has the denomination with German text printed across it. German text is printed above and below the medallions, and the denomination is printed in each corner. Two lines of German text are printed vertically to the left of the rectangle. In the lower left margin, the denomination is printed over an embossed seal. The note is slightly worn and stained overall, with three vertical creases, and creasing in the upper right corner.
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overall: Height: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Width: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm)
Rentenbank note, valued at 1 Rentenmark, distributed for use in Germany from January 1937 to 1948. The Rentenmark became the national currency in 1923 to address the hyperinflation ruining the German economy following World War I. Before the Rentenmark was introduced, the former national currency, the Papiermark, was valued at 4.2 billion marks to one U.S. dollar, and was backed by gold, which the treasury did not have. In order to stabilize the economy, the German government established the Rentenbank on October 15, 1923, and the new Minister of Finance, Hans Luther, developed a system where the Rentenmark was backed by mortgage on all real property in Germany, rather than gold. The Rentenmark was set at 4.2 marks to one U.S. dollar, and its introduction successfully ended the inflation crisis. The Rentenmark was meant to be temporary and it was officially replaced as the national currency by the Reichsmark in 1924, but both notes remained legal tender. In 1937, the German government utilized the Rentenbank to issue 1 and 2 Rentenmark notes because the Reichsbank did not issue denominations lower than 5 Reichsmarks. Both notes included an image of a sheaf of wheat on the back, the emblem of the Rentenbank. When France, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union placed Germany under allied occupation in 1945, the Deutsche Mark became the official Germany currency, but the Rentenmark and the Reichsmark both remained in circulation until 1948.
German Rentenbank, 1 Rentenmark note