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1 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Passau (City of Passau) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Size | 120 × 79 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark brown and red on a cream ground, with an all-over floral and foliate guilloche underprint filling the central field. A decorative rectangular border of interlocking scroll ornaments frames the note on all sides, with solid corner squares. The denomination "1.000.000.000.- Mk." appears in the upper right in bold letterpress type, flanked at upper left by a red typeset serial number prefixed "No"; the large Fraktur legend "Eine Milliarde Mark" dominates the centre, above a two-line redemption clause and the issue date "Passau, den 30. Oktober 1923." Two small heraldic lion shields of Passau are placed symmetrically at mid-left and mid-right, with facsimile signatures of the Rechtsrat and Stadtkämmerer below, and the printer's imprint at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1.000.000.000.- Mk. Gutschein (Genehmigt durch den Reichsfinanzminister) Eine Milliarde Mark Die Stadtgemeinde Passau gibt den Zeitpunkt der Einlösung öffentlich bekannt. Passau, den 30. Oktober 1923. I. V.: Rechtsrat. Stadtrat. Stadtkämmerer. ABLASSMAYER & PENNINGER, G.M.B.H., PASSAU. |
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| Comments |
Passau's municipal administration issued this billion-Mark note during the autumn 1923 hyperinflation peak, when the Reichsbank could no longer supply enough currency fast enough to meet daily transactional demand. Städte and Gemeinden across Bavaria stepped in with Notgeld denominated in figures that would have been unthinkable eighteen months earlier. The local firm of Ablassmayer & Penninger, a commercial printer with no specialist banknote background, produced the note in-house — which is why the paper and printing quality vary noticeably across surviving examples.
By November 1923 the denomination was already obsolete, overtaken by trillion-Mark issues elsewhere.