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1 000 000 Mark Altonaisches Unterstützungs-Institut
| Issuer | Altonaisches Unterstützungs-Institut (Altona Support Institute) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Typeset Notgeld voucher printed on plain cream paper, with a watermark-like architectural vignette of the Altona skyline visible in the left margin as an underprint. The denomination «Eine Million Mark» is set in large blackletter script at centre, surmounted by the heading «Gutschein des Altonaischen Unterstützungs-Instituts über» in smaller Fraktur type. Two circular institutional seals, each bearing a view of the Altona town silhouette and the legend «ALTONAISCHES UNTERSTÜTZUNGS-INSTITUT», flank a date line reading «Altona, den 15. August 1923», below which two manuscript facsimile signatures appear above the issuer's name in bold blackletter; a red serial number is printed vertically at left, and the printer's imprint of H. W. Köbner & Co. G.m.b.H. Altona appears at the foot. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted save for the show-through of the obverse text and vignettes, which appear in mirror image on the plain paper stock; a blind embossed circular stamp bearing the Altona town silhouette and the legend «ALTONAISCHES UNTERSTÜTZUNGS-INSTITUT» is applied at the right, serving as the sole intentional reverse element. |
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| Comments |
The Altonaisches Unterstützungs-Institut was a mutual aid society, not a bank — its entry into emergency currency issuance during the hyperinflation of 1923 was a practical necessity rather than any financial ambition. Countless German municipalities, cooperatives, firms, and welfare organizations printed their own notgeld that year simply to keep wages and relief payments moving when Reichsmark notes became worthless faster than the Reichsdruckerei could produce them.
H. W. Köbner & Co. GmbH, a local Altona printer, handled the job — no outside specialist was required at this denomination, since artistic elaboration had long been abandoned in favor of speed. The embossed seal was the institution's primary authentication device, a low-cost solution when sophisticated security printing was neither available nor economical.