1922 Weimar Germany 10,000 Marks "Vampire" Post-WWI Hyperinflation Note P# 72 Grades Choice AU. Among the ...

1922 Weimar Germany 10,000 Marks "Vampire" Post-WWI Hyperinflation Note P# 72 Grades Choice AU. Among the many bills issued during the hyperinflation crisis in the post-WWI German Weimar Republic, the "Vampire Note" is a particular standout. It is known as the Vampire Note because when the note's engraver (identity unknown) adapted a portrait by famous German Renaissance painter Albrecht Durer for the note, he made an odd alteration where the neck of the figure looks like a Vampire when the bill is rotated 90 degrees. It takes some imagination to see, but was intentional and meant to represent the anti-French sentiment in WWI Germany -- France was considered to be "sucking the life out of" the country following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The Reichsbank noticed this alteration, but did not change it, printing several varieties of the bill with the design and giving credence to the popular anti-French sentiment. There are three varieties, Pick # 70 and 71 differing in the reverse design, and Pick # 72 being a smaller version of Pick # 71.