0,42 Mark Gold = Ein Zehntel Dollar Deutsche Reichsbahn

Deutsche Reichsbahn issued a series of wertbeständige — value-stable — notes in 1923 as the Weimar hyperinflation made the Reichsmark effectively unusable for commercial transactions. By pegging denominations to gold and the US dollar simultaneously, the railway was operating its own parallel monetary system, a legally dubious but practically necessary arrangement. The Reich government tolerated it because the railways needed to pay wages and accept freight payments in something workers and shippers would actually hold overnight.

The dual denomination — 0.42 Gold Mark equaling one-tenth of a dollar — reflects the fixed 4.20 Gold Mark to USD rate established under the pre-war gold standard, a figure that briefly re-anchored the entire Rentenmark reform later that November.