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 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens (City of Pirmasens) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 000 000 Mark (1 000 000) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Typographic Notgeld voucher printed in red-brown and black on cream paper, enclosed within a red rectangular border with ornamental rosette corner devices and a blue guilloche underprint across the field; a repeated diagonal security text pattern reading 'Eine Million Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens' runs beneath the large denomination lettering. The date 'Pirmasens, 2. August 1923' appears at lower left, accompanied by a circular municipal rubber stamp and two manuscript signatures above the issuing authority line at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Wer Banknoten nachmacht oder verfälscht, oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft Reihe F GUTSCHEIN ÜBER EINE MILLION MARK Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens Pirmasens, 2. August 1923. Das Bürgermeisteramt. |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
Pirmasens issued this million-mark note during the hyperinflationary collapse of 1923, when municipal authorities across Germany were compelled to print their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to make payroll and conduct daily commerce. The Reichsbank's inability to supply adequate denominations fast enough meant that hundreds of cities, towns, and even private firms became de facto issuers. Pirmasens, a Palatinate city whose economy was built almost entirely on shoe manufacturing, was among them.
By the time notes of this denomination entered circulation, the figure on the face was already losing purchasing power within days of issue. The currency reform of November 1923 rendered the entire series worthless at a conversion rate of one new Rentenmark to one trillion old marks.