Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion
| Issuer | Reichsbahndirektion Altona |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | 30 November 1923 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Uniface emergency note printed on firm, textured white paper in grey letterpress with black text. The central denomination "Eine Milliarde" (One Milliard) is set in large bold type, flanked above by the issuer heading "REICHSBAHNDIREKTION ALTONA" and below by the acceptance clause text. A five-digit serial number is printed in red ink. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank (uniface note). The obverse printing shows faintly through the paper, with the wave-bundle watermark pattern visible across the surface. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Reichsbahndirektion Altona was one of several regional railway directorates authorized to issue emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation peak of autumn 1923, when the Reichsmark was collapsing fast enough that payroll notes were worthless before workers could spend them. Railway administrations issued their own scrip partly out of necessity and partly because they had the administrative infrastructure to do it quickly. A billion marks from a regional rail office is precisely what that moment looked like in practice.
The watermarked paper distinguishes this from the cheapest emergency issues of the period, suggesting a degree of institutional seriousness even as the denomination rendered the note nearly satirical on arrival.