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1 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Düsseldorf (City of Düsseldorf) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse repeats the same central cross-shaped vignette in red and black, with the denomination 'EINE MILLIARDE MARK DER STADT DUESSELDORF' in bold black letterpress against a red guilloche ground, again with the mirror-image inverted repeat below. The left border reproduces the green wavy guilloche underprint band with 'MILLIARDE' vertically inscribed. Unlike the obverse, the reverse lacks the serial number box and framed text panel, presenting a plainer right field; the printer's name 'HANNS HERRENDELL' appears in small type beneath the central vignette. |
| Reverse lettering | EINE MILLIARDE MARK DER STADT DUESSELDORF HANNS HERRENDELL |
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| Comments |
Düsseldorf was under French and Belgian military occupation when this note was issued — the Ruhr occupation had begun in January 1923, and the German government's policy of passive resistance, funding workers to strike rather than produce, was one of the accelerants that drove hyperinflation to its most extreme phase. Municipal authorities across the Rhineland were issuing notgeld in denominations that would have been unthinkable eighteen months earlier.
Hanns Herrendell, a local commercial artist, both designed and printed this note — an unusual degree of consolidated authorship for emergency currency. At one billion marks, it would have been worth almost nothing within days of issue.