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1 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Erfurt (Magistrat) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed on a tan-pink guilloche underprint composed of a dense wave pattern covering the entire field. The title legend "Notgeld der Stadt Erfurt" is set in Gothic blackletter script across the top. A large multicolour numeral underprint "1000000" in olive-green and yellow spans the centre, overlaid by the denomination inscription "Eine Million Mark" in bold Gothic type. Below, a two-line redemption clause in small Gothic script is followed by the issuance date "Erfurt, den 14. August 1923", the authority line "Der Magistrat", two manuscript signatures, and a green serial number at lower right; the printer's imprint "Ohlenroth'sche Buchdruckerei Erfurt" appears at lower left. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Guilloche underprint |
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| Comments |
Stadt Erfurt issued this one-million Mark note during the summer of 1923, when German municipal authorities were forced to print their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to meet payroll. The Reichsbank could not keep pace with demand as hyperinflation erased purchasing power faster than notes could be shipped from central printing facilities. Local printers like the Ohlenroth'sche Buchdruckerei stepped in by necessity, not design.
By the time this denomination made sense to print, a million marks bought roughly what a handful of pfennigs had bought two years earlier. Within weeks of issue, it would have been inadequate for a loaf of bread.