200 Deutsche Mark with holographic device

The P#47 200 Mark belongs to the BBk IIIb series, the final technical revision of the Deutsche Mark before euro conversion made the entire series obsolete. The holographic foil strip — a wide, iridescent patch rather than the narrow thread-style holograms used on earlier denominations — was added specifically to this series in response to increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting attempts in the mid-1990s. Germany was among the first central banks to deploy that format of hologram on a circulating note.

With the euro changeover fixed for January 2002, notes printed in 1996 had a short functional life. The Bundesbank redeemed Deutsche Mark notes without a deadline, a policy still technically in effect.