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1 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Bamberg (City of Bamberg) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 131 × 85 mm |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper ground with a decorative scalloped border enclosing the entire face. The denomination "Eine Milliarde Mark" is rendered in bold Gothic calligraphy at centre, with the issuer's name "Stadtgemeinde Bamberg" in italic script above. At lower centre, a block of Gothic text states the validity conditions, while a blind-embossed rosette stamp and a vertically printed denomination panel appear on the right margin alongside the serial number. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a rich ochre and black letterpress vignette with a panoramic skyline of Bamberg's cathedral spires and hillside castle across the top register. At left, a medieval tower is flanked by a ribbon banner inscribed with the denomination; a crier figure leans dramatically from the tower blowing a horn. The central field is occupied by a ten-line satirical verse in Gothic script lamenting the hyperinflation, signed by the designer and engraver in the lower corners, with the numeral "1,000,000,000" in bold along the bottom and the printer's imprint beneath. |
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| Comments |
One of hundreds of municipal Notgeld issues printed during the hyperinflation spiral of late 1923, this billion-mark note from Bamberg was rendered obsolete almost immediately after printing — the Rentenmark stabilization in November 1923 ended the inflation emergency so abruptly that enormous quantities of high-denomination Notgeld never meaningfully circulated. Bamberg's civic administration, like most German municipalities, had no choice but to issue its own emergency currency as the Reichsbank struggled to keep denominations remotely meaningful.
J. Nagengast was a local Bamberg printer, and the involvement of a named designer, M. Schnös, is a small but telling detail — even at the billion-mark level, some civic issuers still treated the notes as objects worth designing rather than simply producing.