# A question for German historians/ collectors of paper money **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452 "2016-11-19T19:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/1 "2016-11-19T19:05:53Z")
Why is some German money from the early 1900’s engraved with the word Darlehenskaffenfchein instead of Reichbanknote? [![](https://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx130/samhong6360/Bank%20notes/Old%20banknote/German50MarksDARLEHENSKASSENSCHEINE.jpg) ](https://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx130/samhong6360/Bank%20notes/Old%20banknote/German50MarksDARLEHENSKASSENSCHEINE.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/2 "2016-11-19T19:13:51Z")
They were printed and issued primarily for use in occupied territories, during WWI ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/3 "2016-11-19T19:14:27Z")
Darlehenskassenschein=State Loan Currency note. Different backing. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/4 "2016-11-19T19:20:24Z")
Thanks a lot, for some reason I couldn’t find an answer on google. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/5 "2016-11-19T19:22:29Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Darlehenskassenschein=State Loan Currency note. > > Different backing. Just out of curiosity why do only some of the s’s look like f’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/6 "2016-11-19T19:23:56Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Thanks a lot, for some reason I couldn’t find an answer on google. Note that what you interpreted as an F (3 times) is actually an S. No such thing as a Kaffenfchein…but Kassenschein, yes indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/7 "2016-11-19T19:29:18Z")
If an S concludes a word, it appears as “s” rather than as the “f”-like letter that appears at the start of middle of a word. German compounds function in some ways as independent words. Since “s” is the final letter of Darlehens, it is treated as the final letter of that word would be if it were in isolation. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/8 "2016-11-19T20:23:20Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > If an S concludes a word, it appears as “s” rather than as the “f”-like letter that appears at the start of middle of a word. The same “long s” (ſ) was used in English up to the 18th century. Look at the [title page of Shakespeare’s First Folio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio#/media/File:Title_page_William_Shakespeare%27s_First_Folio_1623.jpg) (1623). The sixth line has “publiſhed”, and the last line has “Iſaac”, instead of “Published” and “Isaac”, but at the end of the sixth line is “Copies”, because that s ends a word. There’s only one upper-case S however, as you see in “SHAKESPEARES”. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/9 "2016-11-19T21:21:57Z")
Just don’t get into the rules for when to use the ß in German, OK? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/10 "2016-11-20T00:23:24Z")
The Greek language has (or at least had) a similar rule. The sigma symbol, σ, is used in the middle of words. The terminal sigma, which is the symbol from which our letter s developed is used at word ends. It doesn’t look like I can display it here. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/11 "2016-11-20T02:54:13Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > The Greek language has (or at least had) a similar rule. The sigma symbol, σ, is used in the middle of words. The terminal sigma, which is the symbol from which our letter s developed is used at word ends. It doesn’t look like I can display it here. It looks like a c with a little pigtail underneath. capital sigma - Σ lower case sigma - σ terminal sigma - ς Seems to work on my computer (linux and firefox). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-german-historians-collectors-of-paper-money/772452/12 "2016-11-20T06:11:57Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The same “long s” (ſ) was used in English up to the 18th century. Look at the [title page of Shakespeare’s First Folio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio#/media/File:Title_page_William_Shakespeare%27s_First_Folio_1623.jpg) (1623). The sixth line has “publiſhed”, and the last line has “Iſaac”, instead of “Published” and “Isaac”, but at the end of the sixth line is “Copies”, because that s ends a word. There’s only one upper-case S however, as you see in “SHAKESPEARES”. … And early English printing used German type, and early printing was limited by the cost of the individual slugs. So if you wanted the 's’s to go farther, you could use the ‘f’ for the purpose intended.