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1 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 000 000 000 Mark (1 000 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed Notgeld note in reddish-brown on cream paper, centred on an elaborate guilloche cartouche framed by geometric lozenge patterns and foliate borders, with the denomination "Eine Milliarde Mark" in heavy Gothic script at centre beneath the issuing authority legend. To the left sits a circular city seal of Gelsenkirchen bearing a church vignette, and to the right an oval Kreisausschuss seal with an eagle; the corner fields carry the word "MILLIARDE" in vertical type. The series designation "Reihe B" and a hand-stamped serial number appear at upper left and right respectively, with the issue date "15. Oktober 1923" and two manuscript signatures at foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NOTGELD Reihe B für den Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen Eine Milliarde Mark Ausgegeben von dem Stadt- und Landkreise Gelsenkirchen mit Genehmigung des Reichsfinanzministers Gelsenkirchen, den 15. Oktober 1923 Der Oberbürgermeister: Der Kreisausschuß i. V. Kreisdeputierter MILLIARDE |
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| Comments |
Gelsenkirchen's local authority issued this milliard-mark emergency note during the hyperinflationary peak of late 1923, when the Reichsbank could not produce currency fast enough to meet daily demand. Hundreds of German municipalities, districts, and private firms printed their own Notgeld at this stage — not as a novelty, as earlier small-denomination Notgeld had been, but out of raw necessity. Workers were being paid multiple times per day as purchasing power collapsed between morning and afternoon.
The Ruhr occupation by French and Belgian forces beginning January 1923 hit industrial Gelsenkirchen — a coal and steel hub — with particular severity, disrupting both production and payroll logistics simultaneously.