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Exactly what it says on the tin. This is clearly a German 10 mark note of some kind, but I can't find pictures online of any notes like it.

German 10 Deutsche Mark note

The reverse is completely blank, with some bleed-through from the "DRINGEND" stamp. The white balance on my camera is rather off, and the note is actually far more yellowish than the photo implies.

So, the question is twofold:

  1. What era is this note from?
  2. What is the meaning of the stamps?
Sebastian Lenartowicz
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    The resolution is too low, but what is the date of the signature? – PlasmaHH Jan 20 '18 at 21:49
  • @plasmahh I honestly couldn't tell you - it's 19**, even under a magnifying glass. The resolution is about the same as the printing quality. – Sebastian Lenartowicz Jan 20 '18 at 21:59
  • At first glance I thought it was Paul Mccartney on the note. – Criggie Jan 21 '18 at 03:03
  • Why did you reject my edit? The current question title has the problem that it doesn’t give any information about the banknote other than that it’s from Germany. Imagine what happens when there is another question about a German banknote (and another one, and another one …). There should be at least one detail in the title that allows to disambiguate/find/remember. The name (as I suggested in my edit) would be one way, a description of the pictured person another way. – unor Jan 21 '18 at 14:14
  • Given the font and serial I would guess it is a 1980 variety, we had some at school – PlasmaHH Jan 21 '18 at 19:02
  • @unor, your proposed title basically changes it into "What era is this American 10 Dollar bill from?" (except for it being the German counterpart) In other words, all you did was add "10", which isn't very useful for a title. – Stephan Bijzitter Jan 21 '18 at 19:56
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    @StephanBijzitter: No, because Germany has/had currencies other than "Deutsche Mark" (e.g., "Reichsmark", "Alliierte Militärmark", "Euro" etc.). (And even it only were the "10", it would still be more useful with than without it. Someone using a search engine to find about their banknote then can easily decide just by looking at the title if this question is relevant or not.) – unor Jan 21 '18 at 20:11

3 Answers3

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The design is that of the "sailing ship" 10 Deutsche Mark note, a banknote first issued in 1960. The front features a 16th century painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder. On a real version of the note, the reverse would have depicted a barque of the same type like the German navy sailing ship Gorch Fock, officially meant to represent German openness to the world.

These notes were withdrawn from circulation in 1990.

enter image description here
A sample of the real 10 mark note found on Pinterest via Google

However, in your case the RECHENGELD stamp denotes that it is only play money, used for educational purposes according to @Loong in the comments. Which also explains why the reverse is blank.

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Semaphore
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This is an addition to Semaphore's answer:

This is the 10 D-Mark note of the third edition of the Deutsche Mark, the Gemäldeserie BBk I (1961) (painting series).

It was designed by the Swiss designer and artist Hermann Eidenbenz who was living in Hamburg, Germany.

It was printed between 1961 and 1990. There are five printing runs which are mentioned under the signature in the lower left corner:

1: 2. Januar 1960 (January 2nd, 1960)
2: 2. Januar 1970 (January 2nd, 1970)
3: 1. Juni 1977 (June 1st, 1977)
4: 2. Januar 1980 (January 2nd, 1980)
5: Change of copyright, no change of date

The red "Rechengeld" stamp means that it is money for children to learn using cash. The blue stamp "Dringend" only means "Urgent", I do not know what purpose it has.

To all anglophones: It is Deutsche Mark, D-Mark or even shorter simply Mark, not Deutschemark or Deutschmark or — simply stop it, ok? Yeah, I know how it is called in English, but it was always grating to German ears.

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Thorsten S.
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    +1 for teaching me that "Deutschmark" is incorrect and potentially annoying to German ears. – IanF1 Jan 20 '18 at 19:30
  • We won the war, we get to call it whatever we like in occupied territory. :p (just kidding, the point that it's two words was worth making). – KorvinStarmast Jan 20 '18 at 23:25
  • As a math guy I want to ask: Was the next Zehnmarkschein after this the one showing Gauss? (I don't know how to produce an eszet with my keyboard, sorry.) – Jyrki Lahtonen Jan 21 '18 at 10:32
  • Never mind. The page you linked to explains that the note with Gauss' portrait on a tenner was in use from 1991 on (until the Euro took over I guess). – Jyrki Lahtonen Jan 21 '18 at 10:38
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    Getting upset about what (not how) someone else calls your currency seems a bit strange... or are you telling German speakers that the Brits use the pound, and not a "Pfund"? – oerkelens Jan 21 '18 at 16:46
  • @oerkelens :o) It chases me since school...we have Italian Lira, Turkish Lira, Dutch guilder, French franc, Swiss franc, Spanish peseta and...Deutschmark. Not German mark, Deutschmark. WHY?? Not only are the German words (!) used as base (in contrast to pound/Pfund), they are glued together with a character amputated. And when different anglophones speak it out....it's like listening to a schoolboy playing violin as rookie. Perhaps I am an exception, but I suffer. :o) – Thorsten S. Jan 22 '18 at 17:21
  • @ThorstenS. Well, I guess you should be happy with the Euro, then - although that's also pronounced in widely different ways :P – oerkelens Jan 23 '18 at 08:58
  • "Not German mark, Deutschmark. WHY??" Because Germans love to glue words together and make absurdities like Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän instead of Donau Dampfer Unternehmen Kapitän. – RonJohn Sep 19 '19 at 01:27
  • @ThorstenS The German words were used because DM was used as the abbreviation of Deutsche Mark that was printed on the Banknotes and on the coins. Lira (in English: Pound which came from the latin libra, just as the d came from the roman coin denarius) was used in Italy, but also in Turkey where they add 'Turkish' to the name (TL). So it is not uncommon in English to use the original name of the currency, especially when that is what is written on the note or coin. – Mark Johnson Jan 15 '20 at 22:59
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It is evidently a play money banknote that is modeled after the BBk I series in print from 1960–1970 (while the whole design was indeed issued until 1990).

Reasons:

  1. The serial number seems not only to be coloured wrongly, but also has characters all of the same height. This was changed mid-series in 1975: the red numbers would then start with characters which were 0.6 mm larger then the rest.
    (—Source: Deutsche Bundesbank: "Kursfähige Banknoten", January 1986. PDF)

  2. The signatures on display in the question are those of Karl Blessing and Heinrich Troeger (the last using his preferred first name "Doctor", then president and vice-president of the Bundesbank:

    enter image description here

Real banknotes of this kind would have circulated only from 1963 onwards.

Note that I write the bill is modeled after that series. As most wouldn't notice the subtle differences anyway, this actual play-bill in question might also have been printed later.

enter image description here
— Bundesbank 1986, showing the latest signatures, click for large

Which narrows this down to the model used after comparison of possible signatures

02.01.1960 (Blessing / Dr. Troeger):

enter image description here

02.01.1970 (Klasen / Emminger):

enter image description here

01.06.1977 (Emminger / Pöhl):

enter image description here

02.01.1980 (Pöhl / Schlesinger):

enter image description here

A later model of this exact Rechengeld shows the signatures of Klasen/Emminger and a date of 1970, making this based on the model from between 1975–1977:
enter image description here
— Src: Spielgeld DM; although that one has the proper reverse printed as well.

Should anyone be into collecting this stuff:
— Günter Aschoff: "Deutsches Kinderspielgeld: ein numismatisches Randgebiet", Ed. M&S, 2009.

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