LONDON -- Shopkeepers in Germany say they have never seen so many crisp 1,000-mark (about $500) bills as in the past month -- the last before the new euro replaces the mark.

Despite the general economic slowdown, December sales were up 10 percent on last year as Germans dumped their hoarded cash (generally undeclared to the tax man) into any goods that would hold their value through the great changeover on Jan. 1, 2002.

It was the same story across Europe as the franc, the lira, the peseta, the drachma and half a dozen other historic currencies took their curtain calls.