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1 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Amtskörperschaft Göppingen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark brown and green, with a tripartite upper register: denomination panels reading "1 Million" in Gothic script on the left and right flank a central landscape vignette of the Hohenstaufen hill with rolling fields in a woodcut style. The lower register carries the issuing authority inscription in large Fraktur lettering across a diamond-pattern guilloche underprint, flanked by authorisation text referencing the Reichsfinanzminister. The date "Göppingen, 16. August 1923" is printed below, with two manuscript signatures over the titles Oberamtmann and Oberamtspfleger. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark brown and green, structured with geometric guilloche side panels and circular denomination medallions reading "1" on the left and right, with "Million" in Gothic script below each. The central vignette, rendered in a bold expressionist woodcut style against a dark background, shows three standing male figures — a farmer, a craftsman, and a worker — with raised arms in a gesture of solidarity, above the motto "Seid einig!". The serial number is printed in a green ornamental cartouche at the foot of the central panel. |
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| Comments |
Göppingen's million-mark note dates from the height of the 1923 hyperinflation, when municipal and district authorities across Germany were legally empowered to issue emergency currency — Notgeld — to fill the void left by a central money supply that was collapsing faster than the Reichsdruckerei could print. The Amtskörperschaft, the district administrative body rather than the town itself, was the issuing authority here, which is a distinction worth keeping.
By August 1923, one million marks was roughly enough for a loaf of bread. Notes at this denomination were often in circulation for days, not weeks, before their face value became effectively meaningless.