Show Your Postcards With Hyperinflation German Stamps

This 1926 (I think) postcard shows Munich's outdoor food market. I find it interesting the sender used two 100 mark issued during the time of the hyperinflation crisis. Another nice find from a furniture and emphemera store's postcard bin I got for $1. And the depiction of the market is quite beautiful.






*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

27 March 1923.
Inflation is just warming up.
Rate should have been 180 Mark, thus overpaid.

Thanks for clarification. The postmark is a little hard to read.

This will be interesting to see more postcards. How high did the postcard rate end up going during the worst of hyperinflation? I've seen the stamps that go up to 10 billion marks, but I'm not familiar with the actual postal rates at the time.

The highest correct franking you can find on a foreign postcard is 200 Milliarden(=Billions). Such a card should be used during December 1923. The currency reform was on 1. Dec, 1923 but the old stamps could still be used during December. The highest foreign postcard rate before 1. December was 192 Milliarden(=Billions). However you will not find any 192 M(B) as the stamps on 26-30 Nov were sold at 4 times the face value so there will only be 48 Mia franking on the cards. The rate 192 Mia followed the Universal Postal Union rules that the postcard rate should be 60% of the letter rate which was 320 Mia.

Here is a card with the correct 180 Mk rate 24 Jun 1923. The rate was in effect March 1 to June 30 1923. Overpaid infla cards are quite often seen. Especially during the next rate period when the rate was 480 Mk there is often a solo use of a 500 Mk stamp on the card. If you search for the value of a solo use of the 500 Mk in a German catalog the solo used 500 Mk is valued at more than 1500 dollars. But this value is only for an exactly correct rate which is almost non-existant. A 500 Mk solo postcard nomally only sell for 20 dollars.

To echo aoisson, there is much higher interest in exact payment of rates, solo frankings, first/last day of rate, and fully readable cancels. Here are few that I had handy...

Hamburg to Detroit, July 12, 1923. Correct franking of 480 Marks for period of July 1-31, 1923. Note message includes "Prices are going up rapidly."


Munchen to Berkeley, CA, July 19, 1923. Same 480 Mark rate period but overpaid by 20 Marks with a solo use.


Hamburg to Czechoslovakia, Aug 1, 1923. First day of rate of 1400 Marks for cards to Hungary & Czechoslovakia, lasting Aug 1-23, 1923.


Effelder to Cleveland, OH, Aug 23, 1923. Last day of Aug 1-23, 1923 rate of 1800 Marks for more distant international cards. Convenience overpayment of 200 Marks, but better than waiting 1 day when the rate became 36,000 Marks. Note the message includes: "Prices have gone beyond all limits. We figure exclusively with millions. Working people in cities are suffering from hunger."