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20 Marks Brandenburg Gate
| Issuer | Staatsbank der DDR |
|---|---|
| Year | 1989 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio vignette of the Brandenburg Gate to the right, with the Berlin city coat of arms (black bear on white field) set within a multicolour guilloche rosette at centre. The denomination numeral '20' appears in large dark blue figures at lower left, flanked by an ornate spirograph guilloche rosette, with coloured lattice borders running along the edges. Date '22.12.1989' and the facsimile signature of Kaminsky are printed below the issuer name. The legend 'BRANDENBURGER TOR' and the disclaimer 'SONDERDRUCK, KEIN GESETZLICHES ZAHLUNGSMITTEL' appear in the lower right field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Detailed intaglio vignette of the Quadriga atop the Brandenburg Gate at left, rendered in dark brown against a pale guilloche underprint in teal and red. A frieze with classical relief figures runs along the base of the attic. To the right, commemorative text is set within a multicolour guilloche background, flanked by the East German state emblem (hammer and compass within a wreath) in a circular cartouche at upper right. The denomination numeral '20' appears in large red figures at lower centre-right, above the printer's imprint. |
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This note arrived almost impossibly late. Issued in 1989 by the Staatsbank der DDR, it entered circulation just as the political infrastructure underwriting it was collapsing — the Wall fell in November of that year, and the entire DDR currency system was abolished the following July when Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion came into force. Most of these notes were barely handled before becoming worthless.
Kaminsky's single signature reflects the DDR's late-period consolidation of central bank authority. VEB Wertpapierdruckerei in Leipzig produced the full series in-house — one of the few socialist states to control the entire banknote production chain domestically.