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1 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Pirmasens (City of Pirmasens) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain typeset reverse printed in the same dark purple-brown ink on cream paper, enclosed within a heavy diamond-and-lozenge guilloche border matching the obverse. The denomination figure 1 000 000 appears in bold numerals at each of the four corners, while the centre carries the anti-counterfeiting penal warning text set within a lightly printed shield-shaped underprint bearing the Pirmasens civic arms, flanked by two small stars. |
| Reverse lettering | 1 000 000 Wer Gutscheine nachmacht oder verfälscht, oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft. |
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| Comments |
Pirmasens issued its own emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923, as did hundreds of German municipalities scrambling to meet payroll when Reichsbank notes became inadequate faster than they could be printed. The Stadtkasse — the city treasury, not a commercial bank — bore direct responsibility for backing these notes, which in practice meant very little given the monetary conditions of that summer and autumn.
A million marks. By late 1923, that denomination would barely cover a loaf of bread, and many Pirmasens workers received wages in locally printed notgeld simply because no other paper was available in sufficient volume.