The régime of inconvertible and depreciating paper money thus ran for a little less than a decade. The progress of depreciation was, however, very unevenly distributed over these ten years. During most of the war-period the exchange value of the mark did not fall greatly from par with the dollar and if, when the issue of the conflict was no longer in doubt, it sank heavily, it was still quoted in December 1918 at more than twelve American cents. During the peace negotiations, however, German exchange continued to fall fast. This downward movement persisted till February 1920 when the descent was checked at just a shade below one cent per mark, that is, at about 1/24 of its pre-war value. A quick recovery then set in which carried the rate to nearly 3c in May. Though there was some reaction from this figure relative stability at a level of from 1 1/2 to 2c was attained in June. By early 1920 the period of immediate adjustment to post-war conditions may therefore be considered to have been completed. Not until September 1921 did the value of the mark again fall below one American cent and as late as June 1922 it still sold for about 1/3 of a cent. From then onward the decline was vertiginous till the final collapse in November 1923. At the latter date forty-two billion (42,000,000,000) marks were worth but a single American cent. Without a complete ouster of the currency concerned, no corresponding depreciation appears in the long and varied annals of monetary history. Never before had a paper money fallen at so rapid a rate over such an extended period. In 1913 the mark was solidly based on gold; in 1923 its value was, as one writer has said, something more ridiculous than zero.
--Frank D. Graham, introduction to Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyper-Inflation: Germany, 1920-1923 (New York: Russell and Russell, 1967), 3-4.
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