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1 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Elberfeld (City of Elberfeld) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black letterpress on cream paper with a lightly toned floral guilloche underprint across the main text panel. The left portion carries the issuing authority, denomination header, and a redemption pledge in Gothic Fraktur script, with the denomination 'Eine Milliarde Mark' set in a large decorative blackletter typeface at centre. The right panel bears the municipal arms of Elberfeld — a crenellated tower surmounting a rampant lion above a scroll cartouche inscribed 'Elberfeld' — alongside a bold upright inscription of the denomination; the note is dated 'Elberfeld, den 30. Oktober 1923' and bears a manuscript signature below the title 'Der Oberbürgermeister'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadt Elberfeld 1 Milliarde Mark Notgeldschein Die städtischen Kassen der Stadt Elberfeld zahlen gegen diesen Notgeldschein Eine Milliarde Mark Der Zeitpunkt der Einlösung wird öffentlich bekanntgemacht. Elberfeld, den 30. Oktober 1923. Der Oberbürgermeister Eine Milliarde Mark Elberfeld |
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| Comments |
Elberfeld was an industrial city in the Wupper valley — absorbed into the new city of Wuppertal in 1929 — and like hundreds of German municipalities in late 1923, it was forced to issue its own emergency currency simply to meet payroll. The Reichsbank's printing operations had collapsed so completely under hyperinflation that local authorities, private firms, and even individual factories were legally permitted to issue Notgeld denominated in the billions. A one-billion-mark note was not a curiosity in October 1923; it was roughly the cost of a loaf of bread.
Municipal issues from this period were typically printed on whatever stock was locally available, often on single-sided or roughly lithographed sheets. Elberfeld's noted printer resources in the textile trade district meant short-run jobs were turned around quickly but without the security features of a central bank issue.