Pre-Euro German Deutsche Marks worth anything?
May 22, 2008, 11:06 pm
#1
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Pre-Euro German Deutsche Marks worth anything?
A friend recently gave me one ten DM note and two twenty DM notes and said they were cleaning out their closet from a trip a dozen years ago and gave them to me as souvenirs. I haven't called a foreign exchange office but will instead ask the Ft experts whether they still hold any value or if the jump to the Euro rendered them without value. I don't have any Germany travel plans, just asking more for my own curiosity than anything else.
May 22, 2008, 11:22 pm
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A friend recently gave me one ten DM note and two twenty DM notes and said they were cleaning out their closet from a trip a dozen years ago and gave them to me as souvenirs. I haven't called a foreign exchange office but will instead ask the Ft experts whether they still hold any value or if the jump to the Euro rendered them without value. I don't have any Germany travel plans, just asking more for my own curiosity than anything else.
), so the EUR value of your DEM 50.00 will buy you lunch for one if you're not going somewhere fancy (DEM 50 used to buy you dinner for two if you didn't go anywhere fancy, but that's getting into OMNI territory).DEM coins and notes can be exchanged at any Bundesbank branch, at the official exchange rate and free of charge ( Bundesbank info page, but do mind the somewhat restricted branch opening hours)
May 23, 2008, 2:15 am
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DM banknotes can only be changed at the Bundesbank branches,not at other banks.
There are, however, certain shops who still take DM. This is an advertising campaign that was started a while ago after it became known that there must be millions of leftover DM hidden in people's piggy banks and saving socks even years after the Euro. These shops have a big sticker showing a 1 DM coin attached to their windows.
There are, however, certain shops who still take DM. This is an advertising campaign that was started a while ago after it became known that there must be millions of leftover DM hidden in people's piggy banks and saving socks even years after the Euro. These shops have a big sticker showing a 1 DM coin attached to their windows.
May 23, 2008, 3:32 am
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When I first read the title of this thread, I assumed somebody would ask if the old German currency "Deutsche Mark" had any value before we got the EURO.
The answer would be yes, it was real money
The answer would be yes, it was real money
May 23, 2008, 8:58 am
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May 24, 2008, 7:35 am
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You might want to hang onto them - they could be very interesting souvenirs in a few years!
Then again, maybe I'm the only one who thinks that's cool.
I still carry around a 10DM note in my wallet from my time as a student in Germany in the 1990s... and I even have an ultra-rare 5DM note around here somewhere...!
Then again, maybe I'm the only one who thinks that's cool.
I still carry around a 10DM note in my wallet from my time as a student in Germany in the 1990s... and I even have an ultra-rare 5DM note around here somewhere...!
May 24, 2008, 8:36 am
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They were getting rare in the 1980s. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and East Germans were flocking to West Germany in their thousands.
The rule at the time was that every East German citizen entering West German territory was entitled to a gift of DM 15 from the West German government. Up to November 1989 there had been very few East German visitors to West Germany because by and large East Germany wasn't allowing its citizens to travel to the West (there were certain exceptions).
Post 9 November 1989 the trickle of East Germans collecting their DM 15 suddenly turned into a huge crowd... and all of a sudden all those 5 DM notes came back into circulation.
May 24, 2008, 12:26 pm
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May 24, 2008, 5:18 pm
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(I knew 15 DM came into it somewhere, it's just that I mis-remembered the "where"!)
May 25, 2008, 1:38 am
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what was the topic of this thread? Begrüssungsgeld? please feel free to start a new thread on this interesting topic. (I can move specific posts if you want, just contact me) but its unfair to the OP to hijack this thread.
chrissxb
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germany forum
please feel free to start a new thread on this interesting topic. (I can move specific posts if you want, just contact me) but its unfair to the OP to hijack this thread. chrissxb
co-moderator
germany forum
May 25, 2008, 4:35 am
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As was stated by tom tulpe, DM banknotes and coins dating from 1948 and later can be exchanged at any time by the Bundesbank. Since you say you aren't going to be in Germany any time soon, the page tom tulpe linked to contains a form (available in English) you can send in to the Bundesbank office in Mainz along with your banknotes and/or coins; they will either transfer the money or send you a check.
May 26, 2008, 5:08 am
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Don't Use This Service
As was stated by tom tulpe, DM banknotes and coins dating from 1948 and later can be exchanged at any time by the Bundesbank. Since you say you aren't going to be in Germany any time soon, the page tom tulpe linked to contains a form (available in English) you can send in to the Bundesbank office in Mainz along with your banknotes and/or coins; they will either transfer the money or send you a check.
have allegendly be embezzled by Bundesbank employees in charge of the "mail us you DEM" service.
May 26, 2008, 5:17 am
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Don't do it - EUR 33,000 have allegendly be embezzled by Bundesbank employees in charge of the "mail us you DEM" service.
have allegendly be embezzled by Bundesbank employees in charge of the "mail us you DEM" service.
May 26, 2008, 2:05 pm
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