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| 100 DM Deutsche Mark banknote - Clara Schumann |
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| German banknotes 100 Deutsche Mark |
German mark banknotes, Deutsche Mark, German banknotes, German paper money, German bank notes, Germany banknotes, Germany paper money, Germany bank notes, German currency.
Obverse: Portrait of Clara Schumann from a lithograph by Andreas Staub. In the background, buildings from historic Leipzig and a lyre.
Reverse: A grand piano and the Hoch Conservatorium in Frankfurt where Clara Schumann taught for four years.
Clara Schumann (née Clara Josephine Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. At age fourteen she wrote her piano concerto, with some help from Robert Schumann, and performed it at age sixteen at the Leipzig Gewandhaus with Mendelssohn conducting. She exerted her influence over a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital and the tastes of the listening public. Her husband was the composer Robert Schumann. Together they encouraged Johannes Brahms, and she was the first pianist to give public performances of some of Brahms works, notably the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel.
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, Germany, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics.
Leipzig is a city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. It has around 540,000 inhabitants and is the heart of the Central German Metropolitan Region. Leipzig is situated about 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southerly end of the North German Plain.
Leipzig has been a trade city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire, sitting at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important Medieval trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centers of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. After World War II, Leipzig became a major urban center within the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) but its cultural and economic importance declined, despite East Germany being the richest economy in the Soviet Bloc.
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (German mark, abbreviated "DM") was the official currency of West Germany (1948–1990) and unified Germany (1990–2002) until the adoption of the euro in 2002. It is commonly called the "Deutschmark" in English but not in German. Germans often say "Mark" or About this sound "D-Mark". It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 replacing the Reichsmark, and served as the Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding the following year until 1999, when the mark was replaced by the euro; its coins and banknotes remained in circulation, defined in terms of euros, until the introduction of euro notes and coins in early 2002. The Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender immediately upon the introduction of the euro—in contrast to the other Eurozone nations, where the euro and legacy currency circulated side by side for up to two months. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 28 February 2002.
The Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in cash form may be changed into euros indefinitely, and one may do so at any branch of the Bundesbank in Germany. Banknotes can even be sent to the bank by mail.
On 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM 1.95583 = €1.
One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pfennig.
Banknotes of the fourth series
The design of German banknotes remained unchanged during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. During this period, forgery technology made significant advances and so, in the late 1980s, the Bundesbank decided to issue a new series of Deutsche Mark banknotes. The colours for each denomination remained unchanged from the previous series but the designs underwent significant changes and a DM 200 denomination was introduced. Famous national artists and scientists were chosen to be portrayed on the new banknotes. Male and female artists were chosen in equal numbers. The buildings in the background of the notes' obverses had a close relationship to the person displayed (e.g., place of birth, place of death, place of work), as well as the second background picture (Lyra and the musician Schumann). The reverses of the notes refer to the work of the person on the obverse.
The new security features were: a windowed security-thread (with the notes' denominations in microprinting), watermark, micro-printing, intaglio-printing (viewing-angle dependent visibility as well as a Braille representation of the notes denomination), colour-shifting ink (on the DM 500 and 1000 denominations), a see-through register and ultraviolet-visible security features.
First to be issued were the DM 100 and 200 denominations on 1 October 1990 (although the banknote shows "Frankfurt am Main, 2. Januar 1989"). The next denomination was DM 10 on 16 April 1991, followed by DM 50 on 30 September 1991. Next was the DM 20 note on 20 March 1992 (printed on 2 August 1991). The reason for this gradual introduction was, that public should become familiar with one single denomination, before introducing a new one. The change was finished with the introduction of the 5, 500, and 1000 mark denominations on 27 October 1992. The last three denominations were rarely seen in circulation and were introduced in one step. With the advance of forgery technology, the Bundesbank decided to introduce additional security features on the most important denominations (50, 100, and 200 marks) as of 1996. These were a hologram foil in the center of the note's obverse, a matted printing on the note's right obverse, showing its denomination (like on the reverse of the new €5, €10, and €20 banknotes), and the EURion constellation on the note's reverse. Furthermore, the colours were changed a bit to pastel to hamper counterfeiting.