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1 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Zwenkau (City Municipality of Zwenkau) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Typeset Notgeld issued on plain buff paper, framed by a decorative letterpress border of interlocking scrollwork. The denomination "Eine Million Mark" is set in large bold type at the top, with the cheque-form payment text in smaller type below, directing the Girokasse Zwenkau to pay the bearer from their account; the place and date "Zwenkau, 15. August 1923" appear at lower left. At centre-bottom, a circular municipal seal of the Stadtgemeinderat zu Zwenkau bears a robed figure holding a tablet and sheaf, flanked by two manuscript signatures and the issuing authority legend "Stadtgemeinde Zwenkau" at lower right; a vertical marginal note "Nur zur Verrechnung!" runs along the left edge. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Eine Million Mark Die Girokasse Zwenkau wolle zahlen gegen diesen Scheck aus unserem Guthaben an uns selbst oder Ueberbringer Eine Million Mark. Zwenkau, 15. August 1923. Stadtgemeinderat zu Zwenkau Stadtgemeinde Zwenkau. Nur zur Verrechnung! |
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| Comments |
Zwenkau is a small town south of Leipzig, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1923, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — when the Reichsbank's hyperinflation made centrally-issued notes functionally worthless before they could even reach circulation. A million marks sounds extraordinary; by mid-1923 it bought less than a loaf of bread, and denominations would climb to the trillions before the Rentenmark stabilized the currency in November of that year.
Local printing meant variable quality and no standardized security features. Municipal Notgeld of this period was often produced by whoever had a press nearby.